Internationally recognized financial expert Adam Carroll was on the show a few years back, but now he’s just released his latest book, The Money Savvy Student. With that in mind it was time to check in with him again and find out what is happening with his career and what drives his popularity. His previously successful books, Winning the Money Game, and 30 Days to 1K, are still selling well and the new one is expected to enjoy the same kind of success. As well, he’s recently released a long awaited documentary, Broke, Busted, and Disgusted, to be broadcast by CNBC. Listen To The Podcast:                         Time-Stamped Show Notes [01:10] Intro and background [05:05] Carroll’s worst financial decision. How he learned from that mistake, revamped his strategies & teaches others. [08:30] Common-sense post-holiday strategies for recovery from over-spending and starting the new year off right. [13:01] Raising money savvy kids and promoting “financial literacy.” [15:15] The power of knowing your numbers. [20:00] Simple strategies for simplifies and earning extra cash. [23:06] How an assignment from a teacher in Texas changed everything. [26:45] A story that inspired Adam (and thousands since). [31:05] Carroll thoughts on eradicating overwhelming student debt. Adam Carroll: Know Your Numbers After the holiday spending most people realize they have overspent and that it is time for some belt-tightening and penny-pinching. The realization that they have plenty of debt makes them remorseful and tight-fisted. But financial expert Adam Carroll cautions about being too quick to zip up your wallet. “I want you to buy one more thing before you pull in the reins,” advises Carroll. “I want you to spend seventy-nine cents on a spiral-bound notebook and write down everything you spend on a daily basis, whether it’s $1.19 for a pack of gum or $1.89 for a soda.” Carroll believes that most of us tend to spend much more than we estimate. The act of writing in the notebook is geared towards bringing your spending into consciousness, because most people do it unconsciously. Know what is coming in, and know what is going out. Post-Holiday Purging There is a tendency to overindulge over the holidays not just with food, but with gifts, giving as well as receiving. “Your house seems like it got smaller because of all your new stuff,” jokes Carroll. In the Carroll household, they use January and February to purge what they no longer want or need, by donating or selling unnecessary items. Craigslist could become your best friend during this period. In his book, 30 Days to 1K, Carroll walks through the steps and shows how it can pay off. If you read just one chapter a day for 30 days, you will finish the book in a month, you’ll be rid of a lot of unnecessary items, and you’ll have money to show for it. The Money-Savvy Student The Money Savvy Student was mostly written for high school and college kids. Carroll spends a great deal of time talking to assemblies in schools, enlightening teens and young adults about how they can take control of their financial future and avoid paying off student debt for decades. A teacher in Texas gave students an assignment to write down every article of clothing they were wearing and assign a price to it. Then, every bit of food they would eat that day, and assign a price. Those numbers were to be multiplied by seven days of the week, and then by fifty-two weeks for the year. He then reminded them that was just the bare bones of survival. They still had to add in glasses, braces, sports equipment, cell phones, surgeries, extra-curricular activities, etc. When one of the students asked why he gave them that assignment, he replied, “So you will know how expensive you are.” It is estimated, Carroll says, that it costs about $250,000 to $300,000 to raise a child to the age of eighteen. Apparently some of the students took the assignment to heart and had a change of att...