Listen Money Matters - Free your inner financial badass. All the stuff you should know about personal finance.

We use credit cards to buy everything these days- groceries, drinks with co-workers, cat beds, gum, sweater vests and all the other things that make us happy. Then the end of the month rolls around. Your bill comes, and you come to the dreaded realization that you blew your budget once again and your credit card bill is more than you can handle. It’s happened to the best of us, but it doesn’t have to happen to you anymore. Introducing Debitize, a new way to pay off credit cards on time and responsibly. Today the guys talk to Liran Amrany, the CEO Debitize about how it works and the story behind it’s creation.  You can listen to the episode here: What is Debitize? Liran founded Debitize to help simplify, optimize, and automate personal finances, especially around credit card spending where he witnessed a significant need. Two-thirds of Millennials avoid using credit cards mostly because they have seen debt negatively affect friends and family. However, building credit is important, and Liran wanted to create a tool to help people use credit responsibly. Before founding the company, he was an Executive Director at JPMorgan, where he spent nine years as a derivatives marketer, focusing on structured credit, exotics, and cross-asset hybrids. After working on the institutional side of finance, he wanted to build something to make a real impact in the financial world and help people avoid credit card debt and better manage their money. How does it work? In a nutshell, Debitize automatically debits your checking account every day to cover your credit card purchases. The funds are temporarily held in your Debitize Reserve Account, and then they automatically pay your balance for you every week. Yes, finally someone who will pay your bills on time for you and in full. Using Debitize is very simple. First, you’ll need to activate your account and link your checking and credit card accounts on the Debitize site. You will do this by logging in with your bank credentials like you would with Mint. Once you’re all set up, you will only use your credit card to make purchases, not your debit card. With Debitize, you get the best of both worlds. You can use your credit card as a debit card while still earning rewards and points credit card companies off. It will help you avoid spending money you don’t have and will keep your finances on track. Debitize will send you a weekly spending summary and confirmations of scheduled payments to keep you in the loop. They will notify you when you have a low balance or if there was a large transaction on one of your cards. Although they encourage you to pay your bills in full to avoid paying interest, if you are making a large purchase that you would like to pay off over time, Debitize will give you the flexibility to do so.   The Benefits Automated Withdrawals If you’re on the fence about using credit and fear getting into debt, Debitize is an excellent way to start building your credit. It acts as a safeguard against overspending. They make automatic withdrawals from your checking every day you make a purchase and set the funds aside to pay off your credit card bill. Don’t worry about Debitize overdrawing your account. You can set up a minimum balance in your checking, so they won’t overdraw your account to make payments. Even if you don’t set up a minimum, they still will not overdraw. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the month of January, Listen Money Matters is getting back to the basics with a month focused on the debt and the importance of credit. Over the course of the month, the guys will cover the fundamentals of credit, debt reduction plans and talk to an awesome guest about a tool he created to help keep you out of debt. What is affected by your credit? Well, everything really. Your credit score is a number that reflects your credit risk level. If you are looking to borrow money for any reason – to purchase a car, get a mortgage or to take out a student loan, your credit score will determine how much that loan will cost you. If you have a low credit score, you will have a harder time getting a loan, and when you do qualify for a loan, the interest rates will be very high. Compared to people with good credit scores, your monthly payments will be more per month to pay off a loan of the same value. Bottomline, having bad credit will cost you. Having good credit history is not just about being able to buy things. Sometimes your credit history is considered by potential employers. According to the New York Times, 47% of employers check your credit score. Landlords absolutely look at your credit score, and it plays a big part in approving you to rent a home. The cost of insurance rates can be higher if the insurer pulls your credit data to calculate your insurance risk score. Even some utility providers may be required to provide a down payment for service for people with bad credit history. What does good credit get you? A cheaper life. The better your credit history, the cheaper it is to borrow money. When you have large loans like a mortgage or student debt that you will be paying off for years, those interest rate savings could add up to thousands of dollars in the long run. Let’s say your mortgage rate is 4.5%. An increase of only 1% will increase your living costs by 12% per month. On the other hand, a decrease of 1% will decrease your living costs by 12.8% per month. Having an excellent credit score will give you access to better credit cards with awesome rewards and no fees. Sometimes you can even get perks with your bank by upgrading to better accounts without ATM fees or minimum balances. Most importantly, using credit cards protects your cash. If your debit card gets lost, stolen or there is fraud, you can kiss your money goodbye in most cases. When your credit card gets stolen, the credit card companies money is gone, not yours. If you report it immediately, the bank will nine times out of 10 resolves it in your favor pretty quickly. When it comes to protecting your money, it is definitely using credit cards compared with cash, checks or money orders are numerous. Action List * Sign up for CreditKarm.com, Credit.com or both. Find out your credit score and see why your score is what it is. * Get a list of all of your credit card accounts on file and request that each one increase your limit. Call them, do it automatically online, get it done. Don’t be greedy; small incremental increases make a difference. *  Take inventory of all of your debt, their amount and their interest rates. This month we’re creating you a debt reduction plan. * Listen to next week’s episode where a simple, free automation will increase your credit score by over 5%. There can be a lot of emotion around credit and debt but having credit is important. These days, everything in life is tied to it and if used correctly life will be cheaper and easy for you if you have good credit. Understanding the how the credit process works will help you manage it and make it work for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one ever said being an entrepreneur was easy, but what a many people don’t know are the psychological struggles like depression and anxiety that also come with it. Every day, even sometimes every hour, there are ups and downs causing a constant battle of emotions in their mind. Entrepreneurs tend to struggle silently not to show their vulnerability. Not until lately have entrepreneurs come forward to talk about these struggles, including today’s guest, Sheryl O’Loughlin. She is the former CEO of Clif Bar, CEO of Plum Organics and she is currently CEO of REBBL super herb beverages. The guys talk to her about her new book Killing It: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart. Entrepreneurs juggle so many roles when building their business. Sheryl knows firsthand how difficult it can be to balance business, family and mental health without one or more pieces falling by the wayside. When she began to struggle with an eating disorder she realized something needed to change. In Killing It, she shares her experiences being an entrepreneur running two fast-growing companies. When in start-up mode, some business owners severely neglect their health which makes them much less resilient. Not eating properly, not getting enough sleep and not exercising will just make the daily stressor harder to deal with. Sheryl wants to mentor and inspire others to invest in their wellbeing. She says without that “Your business will not succeed, nor will you”. Growing a new business can become an obsession for entrepreneurs. Although maintaining meaningful, supportive relationships are crucial, family and friends who are trying to support them ofter times get pushed away. This comes at a huge cost. Many relationships end in a divorce, friendships break down and all that’s left is a feeling of isolation and abandonment. Entrepreneurship can be one of the most rewarding career paths but it isn’t an easy road. In Killing It, Sheryl shares her journey and provides her readers with guiding principles for anyone looking to balance their career, family, and life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yep, it’s time of the year again for New Years Resolutions to kick-in and for many of us, that means getting your finances in order. Are you financially ready for the new year? As we slowly approach the new year, it’s a great time to financially prepared for what’s to come. Whether you want to save for a home, get a new job or start a side hustle, you need to financially prepare you and your family. Today the guys review their last year in business and finance and talk about how they are going to prepare for next year. A Financial Yearly Review Even though 2016 has come and gone, it is still important to reflection and review of the past year. Start by giving yourself a high five and think about all the things you did accomplish. What areas did you improve and what goals did you achieve? Now that you reached those goals, are there any things you need to do in the next year to maintain those goals? Next is the not so fun part. Look at what got pushed to the wayside bur don’t beat yourself up for going off track. Move into the new year with a renewed commitment. If your stay focused on what you want you will make progress going forward. Set Goals For Next Year It’s always a good time to write your goals down on paper. Once you know where you’re going, you can map out how you are going to get there. This holds true for any area of your life. Every year Andrew and I write down our resolutions on a post it and keep it in our wallets all year. It’s a good reminder of what you want to achieve and make sure you are on track. What do you want to happen in the coming year? Think about what do you want to happen in the coming year. Is there anything big you need to save for – a move, a baby, a home, a car? Is there anything missing in your financial plans such as retirement savings or life insurance? Setting financial goals for your future self (and family) will help lower stress and set your finances back on track. Planning it Out Although the new year is a perfect time to set financial goals, the challenge is sticking to them as the year goes on. It’s easy to write stuff down on a piece of paper but you need to plan out how you will you reach these goals. Carve out time for yourself and or partner to review your goals and financial progress regularly. Monthly check in’s will help you manage your budget and goals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week the guys tackle five questions from the audience on debt, real estate investing and freelancing. Question one: Hi, Andrew, Tom, and Laura, I think an important, and sorely needed topic is finance for freelancers. And not even those who use invoicing systems. I’ve been freelancing for more years than I care to admit, and there are so many like me who copyedit, proofread or design book jackets. We’re one-person shows, with little-to-no cushion, where times are feast or famine. I would love to talk about this more or hear you guys talk about it in more depth. Putting together a financial system when you have variable income is uses the same fundamentals as someone who is a salaried employee. However, you’ll have to build a bigger cushion if your income isn’t consistent. You need to keep more in a reserve account than someone who has steady pay. Keep track of your income month to month and use that data to plan for the upcoming year. If you have a pool business and make most of your money from April to September, budget accordingly. Make sure you aren’t overspending that income has to last you. Six months worth of expenses should be a big enough war chest to get you through a hard time if need be. If you are a freelancer and haven’t earned in 6 months, maybe it’s time to look into another career or pivot your business. Question Two: Hey guys, Is it possible to rollover my Roth IRA to a traditional? Would I get a tax refund for the income tax that I would have saved had I been using a traditional IRA all along? Are there any limitations or conditions to performing this rollover? I have only had a Roth IRA for two years. There are some advantages of rolling over your Roth into a Traditional. If you’re broke and need cash or you are retiring soon and aren’t planning on earning in the future could be a reason to make this play. When you move money from a Roth retirement account to a traditional IRA, you can get back the taxes you paid on that contribution, but there are rules and deadlines. Be aware of the calendar deadlines that the IRS imposes. Question Three: Hey guys, I am trying to refinance my credit card debt. I asked Lending Club for a $3,000 loan, and they are only giving me the option to take out a $6,025 loan. Do you know why this is? If this is my only option, I plan on taking it out and then giving back $3,025 right away since I only need 3k. What would you guys do? Is that even possible for me to give back $3,025 right away? Lending Club is a peer to peer lending service. That means, instead of going to a bank for a loan, you can get a loan from a group of random people. On the flip side of things, you can also contribute to funding a loan for other people allowing you to get in on the bank’s profit engine. Lending Club because they get better rates than they would with a bank loan and loans are issued much faster through the power of the crowd. The crowd will also approve loans that normally banks may not.Lending Club offers better rates than a bank would, and loans are issued much faster. Lending Club and Prosper charge a 5% origination fee. The origination fee you pay for your loan will depend on your loan rate. The safest borrowers with the best credit pay the lowest origination fees, while mostly everybody else pays a 5% fee. Lending Club because they get better rates than they would with a bank loan and loans are issued much faster through the power of the crowd. The crowd will also approve loans that normally banks may... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Budgeting sucks. No one really wants to do it. It’s hard to stick with, it’s a chore to review it every month and it makes you feel like crap when you spend way too much on lattes. But, you’re an adult so you need to do it. There are a few types of budgets, which one is right for you? We’re getting back to basics of budgeting. Both Thomas and Andrew have been off the rails with their own budgets so get ready for some confessions. They will discuss different types of budgets, how they work and which ones are the least painful. Reverse Budgeting This budgeting method focuses on savings goals. Instead of setting up budget categories to look at your spending, create savings goals and whatever is left you have to spend. Start allocating money at the top of your priority list and work your way down. Pay yourself first. Retirement, savings, and emergency fund are put aside first. Next are fixed expenses such as mortgage/rent, utilities, car payment, etc. Third are non-fixed expenses. Anything that can fluctuate from month to month, such as groceries and gas. After that comes debt payments. Anything that is left over can be used for fun stuff like eating out, travel, fancy coffee or whatever else you like to treat yourself with. Balanced Money Formula You may have heard the balanced money formula also called the 50-30-20 rule. It’s a budget framework outlined by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren in their book All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan. It is a very simple type of budgets. Fifty percent of your take-home pay goes towards fixed expenses and necessities like food, housing, utilities and ideally all this should be should be kept at 35%. Thirty percent of your take-home can be spent on wants like eating out, treating yourself to a new dress, electronics, etc. The last twenty percent goes right into retirement accounts, savings and emergency funds. The Envelope System Ah, the good old envelope system. This was a great way to keep your budget and savings goals in check before budget management tools were created, This method may seem is old-fashioned, but it’s great for those who are you are just starting out on their financial journey. Also for people who need to whip their financial ass back into shape. This is a cash budget method so you won’t need to check credit card balances to see how much you spend. Start by looking at what your monthly cash flow is and what you have been spending in different categories. Once you know those numbers, get our your envelopes allocated your expenses. Every dollar has a name and a job. $200 for groceries, $75 for gas, $150 phone, etc. By giving yourself a set amount of money in your envelope to use towards a specific category, it will help you control your spending. When there is no more money in the envelope, you can not spend any more in that category. If you absolutely need more money, cut from another category to cover the access. Budget Management Tools Personal Capital – This is the Mint.com for investors. They will track your investments, analyze your investments and suggest ways to improve things like your 401k allocation. I use this as a tool to monitor my diversification and risk levels. This is for more advanced investors. Mint – Create budgets that make sense today and set you up for success tomorrow. Receive alerts for unusual account charges, and get custom tips for reducing fees and saving money. We also wrote a book to help you get started called  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the show the guys talk with Shannon McLay, a financial planner, author, blogger, and podcaster. She left her traditional financial services job to start her own company, The Financial Gym in NYC – a fun, judgment-free space where you can talk freely about your finances, get the help you need and have a glass of wine while doing it. Shannon left her corporate job because she felt that the financial firms only provided the tools and resources to help those who had high net worth. She started doing a lot of pro bono work on the side for people who were earning a lower salary and soon realized that helping those people was much more fulfilling. That’s when she decided to start her own business doing just that. She understands that the road to financial fitness is different for everyone, so she offers multiple solutions to help people get and stay financially fit. Shannon is committed to making financial fitness fun, easy and accessible for others. She’s like the Jillian Michaels of personal finance. If you want to hear more from Shannon, check out her podcast, Martinis and Your Money, where she share’s a martini with friends and experts while discussing money and career topics. She has interviewed many influential people in the personal finance space. She also has a monthly group Happy Hour Ladies, where they chat about the financial challenges and some other fun topics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to make a little money on the side? You can use that old chestnut of ‘buy low sell high’ to your advantage. There are a ton of people making money selling on Amazon and eBay using retail arbitrage.  If you want to learn how to make money selling on Amazon we’ll teach you how to get started with retail arbitrage. Forty percent of Amazon sales come from third-party sellers. Their merchandise stored in Amazon’s warehouses. So clearly, there is money to be made. We talk to a master at selling on Amazon, Jordan Malik is not only an award-winning Amazon seller, he’s written a best-selling book on how to make eBay and Amazon selling work for you. Buying & Selling? No, It’s Retail Arbitrage Arbitrage is defined as, “The simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset in order to profit from a difference in the price.” Which is a fancy way of saying, buy low and sell high? The general idea is simply of finding products for a good price, maybe something on clearance which you are able to sell for profit. Most people seel through Amazon, because well, they are you can find anything online at a great price. For example, maybe you see a hair product on clearance at Walmart for $1.75 which is regularly selling on Amazon for $18.99. Clearly, you can make a huge profit here. So you buy it, send it to an Amazon warehouse using FBA and they ship it to you when it sells. Yes, it does entail a little more work than that but you get the idea. Let’s go a little deeper, shall we? What Are You Selling? If this sounds good to you so far, give Amazon selling a try. Start small, though. Go through your own things and sell a few on eBay and a few on Amazon. This will enable you to familiarize yourself with the way both sites work before you decide to jump in. It has the added bonuses of getting rid of some of your clutter, freeing up storage space and making you a few bucks with no outlay. Just checking what’s already selling on Amazon will show you what types of products are doing well. Choose a category and then Best Sellers. Monitor best sellers for a few days or even a few weeks to help make your decision. Within those items, choose some things you have some familiarity with.  Video game consoles might be trending well but if you don’t know anything about them, you won’t know what you’re buying and won’t be able to answer seller questions. Jordan sold books for a time and was making $2000 a week at it! Books are a good category for a few reasons; they’re small, light, and fairly sturdy which makes them easy and inexpensive to pack and mail. Books are also readily available and cheap. Some libraries even give them away for free. Thrift shops are another good place to buy books, some are even selling them by the pound. Jordan recommends not falling in love with selling in just one category, though. You love books but so do a lot of other people. Be diversified in what items you sell. Sell on eBay or Sell on Amazon? If you have a “one of a kind” item, your Magnum PI lunch box, for example, eBay will be better. They also take some things that Amazon doesn’t sell, like used clothes and some used baby items. eBay is also better for large items, like cars and furniture. It’s more work to list things on eBay and more time consuming than to sell on Amazon. Amazon does a lot of the work for you because they have so many items, if they have something you want to sell already listed, you can skip things like uploading photos and writing detailed descriptions. Where To Buy Your Inventory Jordan doesn’t use wholesalers. It can tie up a lot of your money and unless you find a relatively unknown one or negotiate an exclusive contract with them, there is too much competition to make it worth his while. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The wage pay gap between men and women has been a major focus of attention. In 2015, full-time female workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men. We have all heard the stats, many times, yet still, the gap has barely moved in last decade. Although women obtain undergraduate and graduate degrees at higher rates than men education hasn’t been enough to move the needle. Today we have Allegra Brantly on the show, a negotiation expert who coaches women on getting fair pay and the raises they deserve. She believes that complaining about the wage gap will not close it, the only way women are going to get paid what they are worth is to ask for it. It’s time we stop undervaluing ourselves and get paid what we’re worth. Not just women, men too. According to Allegra, the wage gap can cost a full-time working woman a ton of money over the course of her lifetime. She will need to work an average of ten plus more years to get equality. And her savings need to stretch longer because of women on average live longer. Allegra wasn’t always the ask for what you want kind of gal. She has accepted job offers with salaries much less than she deserved. Her personal need to make more money pushed her to ask for what she wanted because it was the only way she was going to get it. Now that she has navigated this terrain successfully she wants to pass her knowledge on to women in her life. Inspire them to see their full value as an employee. So, how do you do this? Know your numbers To able to negotiate your salary, you first must know what an employee like you is worth. Research your fair market value. See what other people make in your field in your city. Glassdoor and Linked Salary are great for this. See what the range is and ask for the top of the range if you can prove that you deserve it.  Never accept an offer without negotiation. Never accept an offer below market range. Also, it’s ok to talk about your salary. Discussing your salary with your co-workers is your right as an employee. Although it is taboo, it is allowing employers to keep your wages down. Know who you are negotiating with And what motivates them. Try to get to know your co-workers and boss the best you can. Be in the know with what’s going on within the company. Figure out what your negotiation partner values, needs, and what their priorities are. You want more money but how will it help them. The more knowledge you have on their interests and how they operate, the more negotiation power you have. It’s important to have a sense of how they like to be approached. Stating rather than asking Obviously, don’t go in there demanding they pay you more but you still need to be strong and confident. As uncomfortable as it might feel, you’ll need to be self-promoting. Lead with your research and be upfront with your worth and what people in this role are making. Let them know you want to get the raise you deserve so you can feel confident that it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Allegra suggests asking for a raise once a year. Think about it, in a year you would have learned a year’s worth of skill sets, became more efficient in your role, became more familiarized with the company and more in tu... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today the guys talk to Eric Bowlin, a successful multi-unit real estate investor from Texas about how he created his real estate empire by the age of 30. He accidentally got into real estate back in college when he and his wife decided to buy a house near the University. They purchased a 3 unit building, living in one unit and renting the rest. One night while watching a movie with his wife, he heard a knock on the door. It was one of their tenants there to pay rent. At that moment he realized that I would become a real estate investor. That was the easiest money he had ever earned in his entire life. At that moment he realized that I would become a real estate investor. That was the easiest money he had ever earned in his entire life. Eric now owns 26 units making him about 130K per year and he and his family have achieved financial freedom. He sacrificed a lot to get to where he is today, and never stopped planning, preparing, and learning. Eric talks to a many people who have said “I’ve always wanted to invest in real estate, but…”  and he wants to help educate others on what real estate investing actually is and move past the misconceptions. You don’t need a ton of money to buy property. Of course, you need some capital to get started in real estate investing, but not as much as you think. There are many turn-key companies like Roofstock that have affordable properties with excellent returns. Investing is not land lording. Investing is actually buying and holding the property for rent and (hopefully) appreciation. You do not have to be a property manager, you will hire one so don’t get all wrapped up in the “I don’t want to fix leaky toilets” mentality. And, real estate investing isn’t flipping. Flipping homes for profit is a completely different business. Real estate isn’t really that risky. Yes, it is an illiquid asset but otherwise, it is a quite stable market. If you take the time to learn the ins and outs of the real estate market you will make good decisions and investments with great returns. Spend a lot of time finding a good market to invest in. It probably won’t be in your own neighborhood so you’ll need to do your market research on demographics, crime, schools, vacancy rates, and percentage of renters in a neighborhood. If you looking to invest in real estate but looking for something a little more hands-off checkout Fundrise or RealtyShares where you can invest in crowdfunded real estate projects.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices