How to Money

Navigating the maze of investment options can lead to decision fatigue. The discussion emphasizes the dangers of complex strategies, advocating for simplicity in financial choices. Personal anecdotes bring to life the challenges of understanding domestic versus international stocks. The value of traditional investments, like Roth IRAs and 401(k)s, is highlighted, along with the role of financial advisors and the effectiveness of robo-advisors. Simplifying approaches, like dollar cost averaging and index funds, is encouraged for steady wealth building.

Chad Carson, a real estate investor and author of 'Small and Mighty Real Estate Investor,' shares his journey of achieving financial freedom through small-scale investments. He recounts living abroad with his family, leveraging rental income for life experiences. Chad emphasizes house hacking as a gateway into real estate, the importance of balancing wealth with personal fulfillment, and practical strategies for navigating rising interest rates. His approachable insights make real estate investing feel accessible and exciting for anyone looking to start their journey.

Cinderella is such an absurd story! Seriously, when you stop and think- it’s pretty messed up: a prince dances with a girl he’s never met before for one night, and then he sends his goons around town to find her so they can get married. There’s a reason you go on dates for at least a few weeks before proposing. You’ve gotta kick the tires and perform some due diligence! Similarly, you might be completely obsessed with the idea of early retirement upon first hearing about it. And articles out there on the web sure do make it sound enticing. And it might be the right move for some folks, but not before thinking it through on a bunch of fronts. So we’re going to offer our thoughts on how to decide if retiring sooner than your peers is a good goal. We’re going to tackle a number of questions both financial in nature (like sequence of returns risk and ‘one more year syndrome’) but also some personal questions as well (like hobbies and how you’ll spend your days), that’ll help you decide if early retirement is a goal worth pursuing.   Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances: Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.  Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical. Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group. Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile. Don’t be cheap and forego getting a life insurance policy. Compare rates with Policygenius.   During this episode we enjoyed a Ferrous by New Park Brewing- thanks for donating this one to the pod Matthieu! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!   Best friends out!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Explore the hilarity of self-sabotage as personal anecdotes reveal our uncanny ability to make impulsive financial decisions. Delve into the psychology behind our money habits and how technology can lead us astray. Uncover strategies to combat present bias and make sound financial choices, while also learning about the power of compound interest. Enjoy a lively beer review paired with practical tips for better financial management, all while navigating the quirky dance between our instincts and modern money challenges.

We’re joined today by Yanely Espinal, who is also known as MissBeHelpful in the online world of personal finance. Yanely was born in Brooklyn, she is a first generation daughter of immigrants, and even though she went to Brown University it didn’t take long for her to rack up over $20,000 in credit card debt. Academic performance doesn’t automatically mean that you know how to handle your money, and Yanely knew that she needed to make some changes! Before long she was sharing her experience online in order to help others and she parlayed her teaching career into serving as the Director of Educational Outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance. And now she’s recently published her first book: Mind Your Money. She is also currently on a political roller coaster ride across the country in order to convince lawmakers to make personal finance a high school graduation requirement. Listen as we talk about all of this and more today!   Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances: Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.  Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical. Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group. Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile.   During this episode we enjoyed a Codebreaker West Coast IPA by Trademark Brewing. And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!   Best friends out!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Spend less than you make.” This is a maxim that is not only true but, if followed, will allow you to accomplish so many other goals that you might have in life. It’s a foundational concept. Similarly, we also think the same can be said for biking. Get this one thing right in your life- pedal your way to wherever you need to go, and so many other aspects of life will automatically fall into place. And we’ve actually been able to put our commitment to biking to the test since we’ve moved out of the city- you might be surprised to hear the results! Listen as we discuss the many different reasons we believe biking is a money and life hack, the positive impacts on our health, communities, and environment. And we also touch on how you can make biking more accessible in your community as well as how you can get started, even if you haven’t ridden a bike since you were eleven!   Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances: Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.  Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical. Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group. Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile. Don’t be cheap and forego getting a life insurance policy. Compare rates with Policygenius.   During this episode we enjoyed a Lager by Bosque Brewing- a big thanks to Bob in New Mexico for donating this one to the show! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!   Best friends out!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever eaten so much dessert that you thought you might puke? Or maybe you find yourself at the end of a shopping spree with too many clothes in your closet than you could ever possibly wear? In both cases we’re talking about the diminishing marginal utility that we receive from each additional item we consume- the first cup of water after a run is wonderful, but the fifteenth... less so! Diminishing returns is a common way to describe this phenomenon, and we want you to know that this applies to frugality as well. There’s a certain subset of folks who think that the best way to handle their money is to be frugal to the max. And while we would even call ourselves a couple of frugal fellas, it’s important to point out that it’s not a financial tool that fixes everything. So while we’ll be the first to point out how frugality can make you wealthier due to how quickly you can implement it and it’s long-term implications, we’re also not shy about highlighting its downsides: how it can be the result of a fear driven mindset, how focusing on expenses can distract you from thinking about income, how it can lead to a miserly existence. There’s a way you can develop a healthy embrace of frugality and that’s what we’re discussing today!   Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances: Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.  Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical. Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group. Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile.   During this episode we enjoyed The Void of Perspective That Became You and Me by Burial. And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!   Best friends out!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with our friend Brandon Ganch, who is The Mad Fientist, while we were recently traveling in Scotland! Brandon started his career as a computer programmer but then quickly added blogger, podcaster, musician, and producer to his expanding list of pursuits and interests. This is a more casual conversation but listen as you’ll learn a lot about Brandon- life events that may have shaped his view of money, how he discovered and then became a leading voice in the Financial Independence Retire Early movement, working with his wife towards financial freedom, possible regrets from pursuing FIRE, and how having a kid and growing older has changed how he now spends his money. We were especially thankful for the Ganch’s hospitality considering they had just moved into their lovely home, with a new baby, just a week before us tourists arrived on the scene!   Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances: Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.  Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical. Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group. Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile.   During this episode we enjoyed a delicious triple IPA that was graciously provided by Brandon: Puttty by Verdant Brewing based in the UK. And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!   Best friends out!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’ve gotta wait 30 minutes to get back in the pool if you’ve eaten! Don’t pee in the pool- it’ll turn red! There are a lot of things we learned in childhood that we’ve likely discarded as false or at least irrelevant at this point. But there are probably some things we still believe because they were ingrained in our brain at an impressionable age. Similarly, there are a lot of folks clinging to the ‘American Dream’ that they should have that house surrounded by that white picket fence, why? Well in large part because it’s the financially smart thing to do. “You’re throwing away money if you're still renting!” It’s a “money fact” lodged somewhere in the recesses of our brain that we can’t shake. We think that recency bias is leading a lot of folks astray in their quest for home ownership. And of course higher mortgage rates play a role as well. On top of that, it turns out that it’s MUCH more affordable to rent in most major metros today, but how much could you save every month? But at the end of the day, if you still want to purchase a home we have a few prerequisites that you should have checked off your financial to-do list, before you start making offers.   Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances: Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.  Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical. Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group. Find the best credit card for you with our new credit card tool! Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile.   During this episode we enjoyed a It Was A Time To Believe In Anything by Burial Brewing! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!   Best friends out!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whether you saw some crazies doing it on TikTok or read about it in a fitness magazine, it seems like a lot of folks are giving ice baths a try. Evidently it’s supposed to be good for your health, but regardless, there are hordes of people who are intentionally soaking in ice cold water around the 55 degree range. Of course this goes completely counter to what ‘normal’ people subject themselves to. Most folks like their showers warm or even hot, and in the rare instance when you run out of hot water, it can be incredibly frustrating. But just think if you had the perspective of those folks doing cold water therapy. Cold water wouldn’t be an inconvenience but rather something that you would embrace! Your outlook can impact a host of different aspects of life: your happiness, your health, and of course it can impact your money. And especially in our country, it seems that a malaise of pessimism is keeping folks from taking the most basic money moves that could benefit their future. So during today’s episode we present evidence of increased levels of pessimism, how it affects your ability to earn/save/invest your money, and some practical tips to becoming a more optimistic person which ultimately leads to more wealth.   Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances: Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.  Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical. Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group. Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile.   During this episode we enjoyed a Stress Dissolver Blackberry by Common Space- thanks to our buddy Joel for donating this one to the pod! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!   Best friends out!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.