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

On this episode, we welcome blogger Kristin Wong to discuss the psychology of money. Kristin grew up in a frugal household but like many of us, didn't have any guidance when it came to investing.Frugality seems less daunting and allows for instant gratification. You can cancel your cable service right now and save $100 a month or more. It doesn't take any research or special knowledge.Full Article HereShow NotesGet Rich Slowly: A blog that covers various aspects of personal finance.Two Cents Lifehacker: A sub-blog of Lifehacker dedicated to personal finance.Brokepedia: Kristin Wong’s personal blog that focuses on frugal living through practical, money saving tips.Personal Capital: A free software program to help track and manage your investments.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

0% APR offers can be a great thing.  But if you don’t understand how they work, it can cost you big time. In theory, this is a free loan.  But there are so many ways you can screw it up and the lender is counting on that. Full Article Here Show Notes Cerveza Pacifico: A Mexican beer. Mint:  The easy way to track your spending. Help Out By Leaving a Review on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Money isn’t about being rich. Money is about choice and the freedom that goes along with being able to make decisions when money is not the only deciding factor. Stop thinking about money in terms of being rich and instead think about ways it can grant you financial freedom. Full Article HereShow NotesBetterment: Start investing to build the life you want.Mint: Take control of your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frugal living is pretty trendy right now, but how frugal is too frugal?  Should you clip coupons, wash and reuse your tin foil?  Where do we draw the line? Being frugal is a good thing. But frugal living can be taken too far and sometimes even cost you more in the long run. Walk the fine line without crossing over.  Is there such a thing as being too frugal? At its core, being frugal is a good thing. But lots of things that are fundamentally good can be harmful and destructive if taken to an extreme. Drinking water can even be deadly if you overdo it. We should all be encouraged to be frugal in certain areas but don’t go nuts! And being frugal is only one side of the coin. There is only so much you can cut out of your spending, however, there is no cap on how much money you can make. If you’re down to minimum expenses than maybe it’s time to find ways to make some extra money on the side or create some passive income.Full Article Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, we talk to Adam Carroll who created the documentary about the current student loan debt crisis called Broke, Busted and Disgusted. We get a lot of questions about student loan debt but we didn’t understand just how dire the state of things was until we spoke to Adam.  It’s so much worse than you can imagine.  When BB&D is released it will be a wake-up call for a lot of people. For many people starting college, they have no idea what it means to take out massive amounts of student loans.  This is especially true for first-generation college kids.  Some of them are leaving school with $70, $80, $120,000 of debt.So, why is college so expensive now?  Federal funding for education has been cut. Bankruptcy laws were changed in the early 2000s to exclude student loans from being discharged in nearly all circumstances. That was carte blanche for the lenders.  There was nearly no way they would lose money and they opened their coffers accordingly.  There is now $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loan debt. What can you do to avoid the crushing debt?  You don’t have to go to the most expensive college that will have you.  Take some classes at a local community college.  Not only are the classes cheaper but you can live at home to save on living expenses as well.Get as many grants and scholarships as you can.  Choose your major carefully.  Make sure that your degree is in a field that is in demand and that your salary will be enough to live on and pay back your loans. A college education is still a good investment for most people but we have to redefine what college means. Show Notes Broke, Busted and Disgusted (Documentary): A pro-education documentary exploring traditional and alternative higher education institutions, and the rising costs of getting a degree. Winning The Money Game: A Rule Book to Achieving Financial Success for Young People (Book): The book by Adam Carroll which is a guide to being debt free and gain financial freedom. Inequality For All (Documentary): One of the best ways to help people understand the challenges we face, is with a movie that can grab an audience and move them to action. And this movie will do exactly that. — Robert Reich Is College Worth It? (Book): A Former United States Secretary of Education and a Liberal Arts Graduate Expose the Broken Promise of Higher Education. Debt Reduction Snowball Calculator via Vertex42.com: A site for excel spreadsheet nerds. Debt elimination spreadsheet. Help Out By Leaving a Review on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ll discuss a boring subject, how stocks, bonds, and funds work but make it less boring by using Arrested Development to illustrate our points!Recently, we published a post called, An Illustrated Guide to Investment Types. Before writing, Matt asked Andrew to explain to him how stocks and bonds are born. Andrew knows that Matt’s favorite show is Arrested Development, so he put it in terms Matt could understand – The Banana Stand. He described the whole scenario using characters and businesses from Arrested Development. For those familiar with the show, this will make things clear and fun to learn. For non-fans, it’s still useful in its simplicity. Stocks:  You have a company that you own 100%.  But you want some money to expand.  So you sell some stock.  An investor gives you money and you give them some ownership of the company. Bonds: Bonds are another way to raise money.  It’s a debt investment.  Investors loan money for a set period of time at a fixed interest rate.  The bulk of the money comes at the end of the set time period. Bonds are a very safe investment. Funds: Funds are bundles of stocks. You get a variety which is important because you want to be diversified.  Mutual funds are chosen by a person or people and index funds are chosen by a computer.  Index funds are usually cheaper than mutual funds. CD:  A certificate of deposit works as a bond but you make even less money.  It’s the bank’s way of screwing you slightly less than if the money were in a savings account. Hope this explained things and you enjoyed the infographic! Show Notes Betterment:  The easy way to invest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are some rules, or commandments, that all investors should live by. We’ll discuss those ten commandments and explain the importance of each one. 1.  Think Long Term. You need to be in the market for the long con.  Put your money in and leave it alone.  You are not a day trader. 2.  Invest What You Can Afford. Don’t have so much money in the market that you have to pull it out to pay bills.  The constant in and out of the market is detrimental to long term gains. 3.  Buy What You Believe In.  If you have an interest, tech, music, you probably know a lot about brands within those interests.  That makes them good companies to invest in for you because you already have a lot of knowledge about the company. 4.  Do Your Own Research.  Matt bought Sirius stock because some guy told him to.  He didn’t do any research and lost money.  You have to put in some due diligence before buying stock. 5.  Set It And Forget It. Constantly checking your numbers does not make them go up.  Get your process in place and leave it alone. 6. Consistently Contribute.  If you are consistently putting money into the market, you are dollar cost averaging which means over time, you will mirror the market.  The market makes on average a 7% return. 7.  Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy.  When people are buying like mad, you should sit it out. 8.  Be Greedy When Others Are Fearful.  When everyone else is selling, buy, buy, buy! 9.  Find And Remove Frivolous Fees.  401K’s tend to have high fees, sometimes more than 1%.  Over thirty years that means 25% of the money you could have made goes to fees.  Do some research and find a fund with the lowest fee. 10.  Diversify.  If it can fail, it will fail so you need to spread out your risk. Show Notes Vanguard:  A low fee fund. Mint:  The easy way to track your money. Embed this Infographic on Your Site Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are a million credit cards out there and some are better than others.  We’ll help you find the one that will best meet your needs. When used responsibly, a credit card can be a great tool.  You can earn all kinds of rewards from travel points to cash back.  They also offer much more protection than a debit card. Full Article HereShow NotesThe Andrew Sangria - Rum, wine, triple sec and sprite. Perhaps Andrew will delight us and share his actual recipe. I'll ask him. (edited by Andrew) For the record, who has time to measure ingredients? You'll know you've done it right if you still taste the rum ;)Podcast Correction:In case you're too lazy to scroll down much further I'd like to point out that we made a mistake in the episode. You can't use prepaid cards to build credit but you CAN use secured cards to. A similar idea only there's actual credit usage involved with secured cards. Thanks goes out to Kyle Russell for catching this one! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, we talk about Streamline Refinancing.  Specifically, how Matt used it to shave over $130 a month off his mortgage payment without being hit with more interest or increasing the term of his mortgage. The refinance also bought him a month without payment and the closing costs were less than the monthly mortgage payment he saved. Matt also doesn’t have a steady paycheck and the way he streamlines refinanced didn’t require a pay stub. We calculated that over the remaining term of his mortgage he will save over $13,000. Lower payment and lower cost overall – profit all around! In addition to discussing the details of Matt’s refinance we go a bit into the difference between the various types of mortgages and their merits.  We may also make fun of financing a car but if you know me, that’s to be expected ;) Show Notes Fixed Rate Mortgage – The 30-year mortgage and 15-year mortgage fall under this category. The majority of mortgages are fixed rate although that doesn’t mean it’s the best option. Just the most popular.Adjustable Rate Mortgage – Otherwise known as an ARM, these mortgages are front-loaded with a ton of savings (way low rates) for the risk that in a certain number of years the rate will be adjustable. Since you can always refinance into a fresh ARM with fresh savings some say this is a no brainer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, we talk to Cat Alford of BudgetBlonde.com. She’s a personal finance blogger, writer, and a proud mother of twins. I met Cat when I first started Listen Money Matters and she’s been a huge help both in guiding me in the right direction with the site and being supportive of all the crazy things we try over here. She has a very interesting story on how she transitioned from a day job to blogging full time, life in Grenada and handling student loan debt. You won’t only find her on Budget Blonde as she somehow finds the time to also write for popular sites like the Huffington Post and Young Adult Money. Show Notes Budget Blonde – Cat’s awesome and very personal blog about being frugal, doing things DIY style and being smart with money.  It’s a great read! Be warned though, she’s not blonde anymore ;) FinCon – Financial bloggers conference. We’ll be there and so will Cat! Send us an email if you want to hang out! Million Mile Secrets – One of the bigger credit card churn websites that Cat mentioned in the interview. Smarty Pig – Where Cat stores her savings. She says it’s an interesting take on a high yield savings account. Ally Bank – Where Matt stores his savings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices