The Stacking Benjamins Show

Join Joe & OG every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Joe's mom's basement in Texarkana, Texas. They'll cover all the current money headlines, talk to experts and avoid washing windows, three days a week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Know anyone just beginning their financial journey? Well, gather them round your listening device because on today's show Symoné B. "Beez," author of Financial Starter Kit and co-host of the new podcast 4 Goats and a Mic, joins us. We'll walk you through the FIRST things you need to do to build a solid financial foundation. Plus, Symoné will share her story from start to finish: from finding herself sinking in credit card debt - a situation she promised herself she'd never be in - to cutting up her credit cards to retake control of her situation. But she didn't stop there, now Symoné is on a mission to help others gain financial independence and avoid the same pitfalls she encountered. We'll talk 101 financial strategies, what to do when your in over your head, and more.Hello DoorDash and AirBnB lovers! Are you getting FOMO (fear of missing out) from all of the flashy initial public offering (IPO) headlines? With seemingly every IPO followed up by the "look at how much money it made on Day 1" headlines, who wouldn't want to get the early bird special on the next one? There's only one problem about jumping on IPOs to make a killing in the stock market, and early DoorDash investors found that lesson out the hard way. After Joe and OG explain how these IPOs actually work, we'll jump on the line with Affinity Solutions CEO, Johnathan Silver to get some firsthand data on how consumer spending has changed this past year. Have you driven to work less and fixed up your home office? Maybe shopped for the holidays a little early? Jonathan just might describe YOU on today's show.And finally, we finish today's show with a note of good cheer. Tyler calls into the Haven Life line looking for advice on the best way he can help set up his future niece/nephew for college and beyond.Of course, we'll always save some time for Doug.Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A certain prince is having some issues and only YOU can help! Do you help him? Whether it's that scam, the IRS is knocking on your door, or another reach into your pocketbook, scams are everywhere (especially this time of year). What are the best practices for avoiding losing your money? We'll tackle a recent list written by our friend Stacy Johnson on today's show. Helping you hold on to your dollars, we'll welcome Doc G from the Earn and Invest podcast, Paula Pant from Afford Anything, and Len Penzo from the award-winning LenPenzo.com blog.Vanguard has released a new study about millennials and their view on retirement. We'll chat about that with Brian Concannon, head of Vanguard Digital Advisor. While we have his attention, we'll have him take on a tour of their new platform. He'll talk about how it works, the problems it solves, what it costs, and more.We'll finish out the show with a voicemail from Katherine. She knows she'll donate a large sum to her favorite non-profit, but is there a good time to donate it? Katherine says that she is still young, and knows any money she invests will compound and go a lot further in the future. Thoughts?As always, Doug will keep the party going with his game-show trivia. Today is a bittersweet day in history: the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, orchestrated by Bernie Madoff, ended on this day. Think you can guess how much Madoff stole from his clients? You'll find the answer at the halfway mark of today's episode.Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The history of money is possibly (even probably) the most tangled web of assumptions, grief, symbolism, happiness, and longing in the history of the world. Today Frederick Kaufman joins us to share a few of those stories. From the earliest days of exchanging objects to represent currency, to the heads of state on coins, to Bitcoin and beyond, we'll discover many of the stories that encompass names from Adam Smith to Anna Nicole Smith.Plus, during our headlines segment of the show we'll talk to Sean Hanft from FSAStore.com. It's nearing the end of the year and if you have flexible spending account dollars left, it's time to use them before you lose them. Plus, one blog post making its way around, which makes the case against opening a 401k to start saving for retirement. Naturally, Joe and OG have a thought or two about that.Plus, we all know the famous 4% rule (of thumb), but have we been using it wrong this whole time? Matt calls in the Haven Life Line to ask for some clarification. While you shouldn't be using rules of thumb to guide your portfolio in the first place, Matt's question could potentially have big implications on your retirement draw-down.Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With all of the talk about a divided nation, finger pointing about the election, and a year when so, so many things have become "political," today we're thrilled to bring you John Hope Bryant, who throws water on all of these arguments. His no-nonsense approach to how we ALL win together is refreshing and provocative. We'll talk about lessons from his new book, Up From Nothing on today's show.Plus, big congrats to stock-based ETFs in November. Record inflows poured into these positions, which leaves Joe and OG scratching their heads. Why do investors wait until the market climbs to record highs to stuff money into funds AGAIN? We'll counter that with yet another piece we found that proclaims the sky is about to fall. Again.Of course, that's not all. We'll get some help from a listener on explaining Value Averaging (vs. Dollar-Cost Averaging), and Doug will skewer a horrible, horrible national recognition day for a group he says is undeserving. Wait until you hear his rant...Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Maybe you've heard the Jim Rohn phrase, "You are the average of the five people around you." Is that true for you? Probably. If you're looking to improve either your net worth, your career, or just your friendships, giving careful thought to your "tribe" will pay dividends. Today we'll work from a recent Tony Robbins piece on this topic with three people who work hard to surround themselves with good, uplifting people. Aaron Velky, the head of the Stacking Benjamins Money Club (but probably more important, the head of financial education company Ortus Academy), will give us some great advice. Also, we'll hear great ideas from Paula Pant from Afford Anything and OG as well. It's a great episode that you'll want to listen to before setting your 2021 goals.Plus, our Stacking Benjamins Scholarship Mastery course is about to go into session! If you are either heading to school yourself, have a family member or friend in school, or a high school junior or senior, we're going to tell you all of the important dates coming up this year for scholarships AND we'll detail how our course works so you can get in before the deadline, which is Friday, December 11th.Our anonymous caller to the Magnify Money line today is receiving a $500,000 inheritance. His parents want him to connect with their financial advisor, but he's been doing good so far by investing in low-cost funds on his own. Our caller and his wife has have no debt other than their mortgage. He asks: is it time to bring an advisor on board, or should he stick with what's been working so far?With everyone posting their year-end music reviews, Doug decided to share some of his own. Fancy yourself top-notch when it comes to your music trivia? Today is for you.Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Looking for quick ways to save a few more bucks? Or, are you too busy to even slow down and think about stashing some extra cash every month? While we don't promise taking the light bulb out of your oven will bring you riches, we ARE fans of quick, time-conscious hacks that save you some Benjamins. Lisa Rowan, the author of the hit new book Money Hacks, joins the basement airwaves today to share some of the 275+ money hacks she's collected.Plus, could your salary size be completely out of your control? Maybe so, if you believe a new survey that suggests there's a BIG correlation between the size of a man's package and how much bacon he brings home. (Don't shoot the messenger). In more traditional finance news, Joe and OG also cover what the new (possible) Treasury secretary-elect, Janet Yellen, might mean for the economy.Nick has been having trouble getting disability insurance for his wife, so we'll throw him the Haven Life line. She suffers from depression and anxiety. Nick asks: how can he cover their insurance gap? As always, OG and Joe come to the rescue.As always, we'll save time for Doug's trivia. You'll hear it for yourself... but let's say you might find Doug a bit peculiar today.Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Think you don't know the first thing about investing? Bola Sokunbi makes it clear that not only is investing EASIER than you might think, it also can be a lot of fun. We'll define some of the popular terms you'll hear, talk through some of the basics, and dive into what you really need to invest so that you feel confident about getting where you want to go with your financial goals.Also today, we dive into a popular sports figure who spends north of a million dollars a year on coaching. A million dollars? Doesn't that sound like a waste of money? We'll maybe change your mind on how you view expenses to "sharpen the saw" (as popular author Stephen Covey has written). We'll also talk about the difference between how professionals invest versus the amount of money thatGlen calls in during our Haven Life Line with some questions about the government Thrift Savings Plan. Glen has left his contributions alone and now that they've grown he's looking to consolidate his various workplace funds into a Vanguard account. He asks: can his TSP contributions be rolled over? Does the face Glen made contributions in Iraq change how his money is treated?Of course we'll also give Doug some time to share his trivia. Today's theme? Think you're in tune with digital purchasing trends? (That's a weird sentence). You can test your mettle with Doug's Cyber-Monday themed trivia.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you aren't interested in shopping on Black Friday weekend, we've got you covered with one of our FAVORITE episodes. Every year we dive into our favorite board games about money and economics AND we invite some board game insider friends to help us learn about some new fun games. I'm super excited that the guys from the No Cube Zone (Coniff, Jordan, and Rippee) join us today to dive in to not only our top-5 games about money or economics, but also their top 5 games to share with family this holiday season.Plus, we'll continue the theme by dumping our normal Friday Fintech Segment for a Friday Board Game exclusive. The subscription game company making Hunt A Killer just was named the #6 fastest growing company in the USA by Inc. We'll dive into the game, how it's made, what the firm's focused on, and how exactly a subscription game works with co-founders Ryan Hogan and Derrick Smith.It's nearly two hours of board game goodness, friends, and Thanksgiving weekend discussions. We're thankful you're spending it with us! Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you're looking for new tech toys for the holidays this year, we bring you today good news and bad news. The good news is that we're going to cover LOTS of ground and some of the hottest and coolest tech we've seen in years. On the bad news side? It's going to be harder than ever to get your hands on any of it. Today we're geeking out on the hottest of the hot and the newest of the new tech with our friend Bridget Carey from CNET. Bridget, as she has every year with us (and as she does daily in her CNET videos and reviews), breaks down everything you need to know to have a geeky, techie holiday season.And if the hot new tech you're looking for has four wheels we also have you covered. Slow down before you run off and buy the flashiest car, because you may be surprised how much the value drops when you drive off the lot. We'll talk to Karl Brauer from iSeeCars.com about a new study showing which models and brands hold their value best AND which cars you may want to avoid.During the Haven Life line call-in segment of the show, August calls in with a question not too many people consider: do office workers sitting behind a computer everyday need occupation disability insurance? After all, what could go wrong? We'll share suggestions about disability coverage and what you need to cover.Plus, what in the world is going on with this "OLED" business? Seems like everything from smart TVs to new iPhones are promising the latest and greatest OLED devices. During Doug's trivia, he'll test your 2020 electronic knowledge... if he can find the answer himself, that is.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices