Chelsea Brennan was a hedge fund manager for several years - until her second pregnancy when she ended up in the hospital with sever complications brought on by the stress and emotional toll her job took on her.

She and her husband looked over their savings and investments, and decided that she'd leave her job in order to focus on her health and her kids.

Her baby was born healthy, but their income went from six figures to zero figures, and she needed a way to bring some money in.

She looked back on her love of teaching, and decided to start a website devoted to teaching women - and moms specifically - how to handle their money.

Chelsea is truly passionate about teaching the power of financial independence and being in control of your life. Are you struggling with your finances? This episode is a cannot miss!

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Kirk Chisholm is a fee-only investment advisor with a secret passion - finding new and different ways to invest money.

Kirk shares his Big List of 75 Alternative Investments with us today - and more importantly, how to vet the investment vehicle to see if it's right for you.

Not everything is a great fit for every person, and you certainly don't have to choose everything on the list. Play to your strengths when choosing investments and don't discount passion for an idea. If you HATE the thought of learning more about that investment vehicle, you won't put forth the correct amount of effort necessary to master it.

Kirk also dives into how to sell these types of alternative investments - including at significant discounts if it's an illiquid asset that you need to liquidate fast. Secondary markets exist for all asset classes, and there are ways to pick up a good deal on the secondary market as well.

If you're looking to diversify your portfolio, today's show is a can't-miss episode!

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Shannon Gauthier discovered the debt she and her husband had gotten themselves into when a debt collector caller her at work and she started asking questions.

Shocked to discover $30,000 in unpaid debts, she quickly found herself a single mom as her husband left.

She tried to pay them off as best she could, but found herself somedays deciding whether to buy a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas to get to work.

Fast forward a year, and she met a new man who brought significant debt with him to the relationship - to the tune of $60,000!

Each of their divorces added more debt to their pile and at the height their debt totaled $160,000. Their income trailed this debt at $65,000 and they knew they'd have to do everything in their power to knock out this debt.

They moved in with his parents to pay lower rent and have someone to watch the kids while they worked. They couponed and did free things with the kids to be able to throw every single dollar they could at their debt.

This approach paid off, because by the end of the year, they will be completely debt free and be able to start saving and investing and working toward financial freedom.

If you're in debt and see no way out, this episode will show you there IS a way to paying down your debt, that it isn't always easy, pretty or fun, but it CAN be done.

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Scott & Mindy sit down today to answer questions sent in by listeners. They address topics all over the board - from student loan repayment and early retirement account withdrawal under the CARES act, to the best high-yield savings accounts, and planning for the gap between early retirement and traditional retirement age when you can access your retirement accounts penalty free.

Scott & Mindy also discuss different investing platforms as well as retirement planning, taxes, and even how inflation might affect your retirement future.

They take a couple of calls from listeners to chat about the best current use of retirement funds. 

This episode will help clear up some of the questions you may be having on your road to early financial independence.

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Blake Nielson is a college professor whose wife stays home to raise their four children. Despite having only one income - and six mouths to feed - they have paid off their home and are on the path to early financial freedom. Blake currently loves his job and has no plans to stop working - but still wants the freedom that financial independence gives.

So how did he do it? He started off debt free from college, a HUGE leg up in life in general. Blake details just how he accomplished this feat, from college selection to funds available, scholarships and even working during the school year and especially during the summers between.

Blake even shares a Solid Gold tip for finding out about scholarships that aren’t well publicized!

Blake also strategically chose where he lived during his college years. He specifically chose a rental that was priced significantly lower than the “college” rentals in town - but still close enough to walk to school.

There is no secret to Blake’s success. He put in the work at an early age and is on track to hit lean FI by age 40 and Fat FI by 45. Spend less than you earn, invest wisely. Blake shows you can live the FI life with four kids and one income.

In This Episode We Cover:

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Belinda Rosenblum is a CPA, a certified coach and her clients include Harvard Business School, Harvard University and the SEC. She’s worked for Arthur Andersen and L3 Enterprises. She’s got money all figured out, right?

Well, she does now…

On today’s episode, Belinda shares her biggest money mistake - ignoring a giant pile of mail as she cared for her recovering father.

Once she cleared that up, she focused on her own finances, growing her net worth to more than $1 million by the time she was 33. She quickly realized that her trajectory was NOT taking her where she wanted to go. So she pivoted.

She took a new job with a huge bump in pay and rode out their boom and subsequent layoffs, taking a package to leave and using that opportunity to travel to India, a life-changing experience.

When she came back, she realized she didn’t need all the things, didn’t need the stress that came with the big corporate job, and struck out on her own, filling a need she saw in her own friends - financial education.

Belinda parlayed her financial knowledge into a multi 6-figures company, pivoting again last year to helping businesses strategically and consistently generate income.

This episode is for anyone who has made a money mistake, anyone who has gotten past one, or anyone looking to start their own business to truly live the life they want.

In This Episode We Cover:

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Life Insurance is the most exciting topic on the planet!

Just kidding. But just because it isn’t a super exciting topic doesn’t mean you don’t need to know about it.

Today, Joe Saul-Sehy, host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast, joins Scott and Mindy to talk about Life Insurance. Joe comes from a background as a financial planner and was licensed to sell every type of insurance product available.

Joe is here today because he understands how life insurance works - how it's priced, how you can use it, the pros and cons of the product - but he has no skin in the game whether you buy life insurance or not.

He's the perfect person to explain this product from a factual standpoint and let you make the decision of what type - if any - is best for you, based on facts, not commissions.

Joe walks us through the basics and shares how life insurance actually covers you - from term, to whole, to universal life. There's no bad product, only different ways of paying out.

If you're struggling with how to figure out what life insurance policy is right for you, this episode can't be missed.

In This Episode We Cover:

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Farnoosh Torabi grew up talking about money. Her parents are from the Middle East, and in her culture, they “never miss a moment to talk about money.”

As the go-to girl for finance advice among her friends, imagine her surprise when she sat down and looked at her financial situation to discover tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt! Farnoosh realized that paying for everything with a card, then paying the minimum balances didn’t lead to debt free life.

Not wanting to continue a life of debt - mainly so she wouldn’t have to tell her mom - she hustled during school. Taking class notes and selling them on her school’s notes system, babysitting, bird sitting, anything that would generate income so she could throw money at her debt and pay it off.

Graduation took her to New York City and a stroke of luck found her a shared apartment with a married couple for $500 a month. Definitely less than she could find on her own. She started off making very little, and strategically increased her income to offset the fact that she “isn’t a good saver.”

Farnoosh has parlayed her own financial knowledge into a career teaching others how to manage their own finances. From books, to podcasts, to television, Farnoosh is everywhere, educating this oh-so-important skill so that others can work toward their own financial freedom.

In This Episode We Cover:

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Felicity’s story to financial independence is going to be similar to listeners of The BiggerPockets Money Podcast. She got a good paying job, spent less than she earned, intelligently invested in Index Funds and is now financially independent at the age of 30.

Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

Except, it’s NOT that easy, actually. She lives in America, and for much of that time, she lived in a very high cost of living city, Boston.

Felicity rented a 250 sq ft apartment with her husband, Fergus, while he was in graduate school - because he didn’t want to live above his means, and he was making less money than she was at the time.

In fact, Fergus is leery of the 4% rule, and would be much more comfortable if they were only pulling 2%-2.5% of their retirement funds every year.

Their story illustrates the point Mindy makes so frequently in this podcast, “personal finance is personal.” Their story also illustrates the path one must take to get to financial independence.

Spend less than you earn. Intelligently invest. Stay the course through the tough times. This too shall pass.

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Doug Nordman wanted to teach his daughter about money. But he knew that to get it right, he’d have to start when she was very very small. So he did. First, he taught her how to count, then he taught her how to add, then he showed her what she could do with money by using cash in transactions.

As Carol got older, she was able to handle the cash herself, learning how to make change, count change, etc. Carol started “earning” her own money, through allowance and jobs - which could only be done after her (non-paid) chores were complete.

Doug’s common-sense approach to teaching his daughter about money is actually quite brilliant. She starts learning about money - and making money mistakes - when the stakes are low. Your 8-year-old making a $20 mistake is far better than your 20 year old making a $10,000 mistake because he or she never learned how to manage money.

Carol joins her dad to talk about how these teachings affected her life - and how she is planning on teaching her own daughter about money and finances. 

Carol and Doug have combined their recollections of this time together and written a book called Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence, and it is the blueprint for exactly how to raise children who are ‘good with money’ and how to prepare them to be adults who are great with money.

If you’re struggling with how to teach your children about money, this is a must-listen episode.

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