Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate Easy

Lauren is joined this week by Patrick McLaughlin, a two-time House Hacker and the creator of ExaminedWealth.com — a website where he explores the balance between building personal wealth and financial wealth to help you live an authentically rich life. House hacking, in case you haven't heard, is when you turn your primary residence into an asset instead of a liability by using it to generate income, and Patrick has accomplished this twice. Lauren and her husband are house hackers themselves so this is an easy conversation that will get you to reconsider your living situation in a positive way.

https://twitter.com/ExaminedWealth

Lauren is joined this week by the Seven Dollar Millionaire. The two walk through the 7 stages to financial freedom as outlined in his book Happy Ever After: Financial Freedom Isn't a Fairytale. The Seven Dollar Millionaire has felt a sense of deep frustration with global education systems not teaching financial literacy since becoming an investment analyst more than 2 decades ago and realizing how much of the world was being denied some powerful, simple tools. This frustration became more intense 20 years later on realizing his own daughter was about to leave school with no formal financial training either, and so he set about writing a book to show her the route to financial freedom, starting from not even knowing what money is. In fact, his pseudonym comes from his daughter, who asked him what was the smallest amount of money she would need to save every day to become a millionaire before retiring: $7. That’s the kind of simple, encouraging and empowering information he likes to communicate, that could bring financial freedom to so many people. So far he has self-published “The Thousand Dollar Journal” to be distributed to beginner savers, migrant workers and many other groups starting out, while the book he wrote for his daughter “Happy Ever After: Financial Freedom Isn’t A Fairytale” is now being published by Wiley.

Connect with Michael on Twitter: https://twitter.com/7Millionaire1

Buy his book on Amazon

Learn more: https://www.sevendollarmillionaire.com/

This week's episode involves an interview with Lauren and the Contrarian Saver. The two talk about vacation/short term rentals. Lauren is just getting started in this area and the Contrarian Saver has been doing it for years. Bonus: he's also a house hacker! His story is unique and his properties are interesting to say the least! He also provides great tips for those just getting started or just getting interested in real estate.

Contrarian Saver was a career marketer who worked for some well-known companies like Disney, Coca-Cola, and Warner Bros. He decided to switch gears at age 49 and now spends most of his time and energy in real estate investing. He house hacks in Los Angeles and owns vacation rentals in California and Hawaii. He offers his unique musings on saving, investing, and financial independence on his blog at Contrariansaver.com. Looks for shorter contrarian sound bites on Twitter @contrariansaver.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ContrarianSaver

Site: https://contrariansaver.com/

Michael Eakman is the founder and Lead Wealth Manager at Adaptive Wealth Partners. His clients include investors who are athletes, sports and entertainment professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs. Michael’s passion to help investors make better short-term financial decisions and achieve their goals started in 2010 when he lived in his car for 6 months while going through a rough patch in life. He knows what the bottom looks like and how to build a life that you can enjoy. He also knows something about the mistakes investors make when it comes to emergency funds, investing, and listening to negatives in the media, and that's what he and Lauren discuss this week.

Connect with Michael on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AWPadvisor

Download his FREE book: https://www.athletewealthguide.com/

Lauren is joined this week by Doug, who is just starting out on his real estate journey in the expensive Boston-area market. Doug acquired his first property in 2020 and is now under contract on two additional properties. His goal is to have 5+ properties by 2024, and eventually have enough real estate income to achieve financial independence.

Other podcasts you might like:

Here's a link to the bank Doug mentioned: https://www.middlesexbank.com/

This week's guest is David Lau, and he and Lauren discuss annuities 101: what they are, the different types, and why you (or your parents) might want one for retirement. 

David Lau is a widely recognized as an innovator and disruptor in the financial services industry. Most recently, he is Founder and CEO of DPL Financial Partners', a privately held financial services firm that specializes in development and distribution of commission-free insurance and annuities for Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and individuals.

Earlier in his career, David helped build E*Trade Bank, and its predecessor Telebank, which was the nation’s first internet bank, and served as COO for JeffersonNational, where he led marketing, sales, and operations, and was pivotal in developing the industry’s first flat-fee variable annuity product.

How to get in touch with David and DPL: 1-877-625-5544

DPL Website: www.dplfp.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dpl_fp

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/16193010/

The title of this week's episode says it all. Listen to hear how Jamila paid off her student debt ($83,000 worth) in just 3 years. It's an amazing story of focus and determination with actionable tips for anyone contemplating student loans or who already has them. Now student loan debt free, Jamila is working her way to increasing her net worth along with a future certification in financial planning! You can read about her story on her blog www.jamilastwocents.com.

Connect with Jamila:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamilastwocents

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamilastwocents/

This week, Lauren is joined by Jessica, Co-Founder of The Fioneers, a financial independence blog focused on the intersection between financial independence and lifestyle design. Jessica is a writer and lifestyle design coach. She provides coaching and courses on career discovery and lifestyle design for people who want to take unconventional paths and design lives they love.

Lauren and Jessica focus on financial independence through FIRE (financial independence, retire early) and Coast FI, especially Coast FI.

Contact Jessica:

Blog: https://thefioneers.com/

Coast FI Calculator: https://thefioneers.com/coast-financial-independence-calculator/

Lauren is joined by Sarry Ibrahim this week. Lauren learns about life insurance: term, whole, universal, and the bank on yourself concept. Sarry Ibrahim is a financial planner and member of the Bank On Yourself Organization. He helps real estate investors, business owners, and full-time employees grow safe and predictable wealth regardless of market conditions using a financial strategy that has been around for over 160 years. Sarry started this journey when he was in grad school completing his MBA. He worked for companies like Allstate, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Healthspring, and Humana before founding Financial Asset Protection, a financial services firm that focuses on one sole concept; the Bank On Yourself Concept, also known as the Infinite Banking Concept.

How to contact Sarry: https://finassetprotection.com/

Books mentioned:

Bank on Yourself Revolution by Pamela Yellen: https://www.amazon.com/Bank-Yourself-Revolution-Control-Financial/dp/1942952104/ref=sr_1_3?crid=21F61RWSK0KEY&dchild=1&keywords=bank+on+yourself+by+pamela+yellen&qid=1607695108&sprefix=bank+on+yourself%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-3

Infinite Banking Concept by Nelson Nash: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=infinite+banking+concept+by+nelson+nash&crid=38YIIQIHO7VXW&sprefix=infinite+banking%2Caps%2C177&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-do-p_1_16

In order to reach your goals and align them with your values, you first need to have a firm foundation of understanding about your finances. Amar Shah discusses the intelligence pyramid with Lauren this week.

Amar Shah is a wealth manager and business owner at Client First Capital, which he founded based on core principles of transparency, trustworthiness and thoughtful leadership. A former firefighter and engineer, Amar has a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering. His interest in personal finance was piqued when he worked for American Express Financial Advisors. He then worked as vice president within J.P. Morgan’s wealth management division in New York City and then spent 8 years as a senior wealth manager at USAA. Amar has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®), practitioner. Amar is coached by industry veteran Doug Lennick, the former Executive Vice President of Advice and Retail Distribution of American Express Financial Advisors and manager of a business of over 17,000 individuals.

Connect with Amar on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClientFirstCap

Book mentioned: Financial Intelligence by Doug Lennick