BiggerPockets Money

Jean grew up in a family where money wasn’t a big issue. Her parents saved for big purchases like vacations, but frugality was part of her everyday life. She graduated from college without any debt, and soon found a job - that she immediately regretted accepting. She moved quickly to change course, and ended up in a job that paid less than half of that first one - but was so much better for her. 

A freelancing side job to supplement her income evolved into a full-time Journalism career with Smart Money magazine, which led to a 25+ year stint with the Today Show as their financial editor.

But Jean wanted more. She created HerMoney, a place for women to learn about how to properly handle their finances. Jean knew that your money story is the root of your relationship with money. She created a place and space for you to recognize your money story - and figure out how to apply deep-seated lessons learned consciously and subsconsiously - to lead your best financial life!

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Sunitha Rao remembers a childhood of scarcity. Born to immigrant parents, some of her first memories are of her home being broken into, and her things being stolen. The only money lessons she was taught as a child were frugality and saving, because you never knew what was going to happen.

Her father had grand tennis plans for her, and pushed her into tennis. By age 9, she was playing tennis six hours a day. School was so low on the priority list she dropped out in 6th grade to pursue tennis full time.

She turned pro at age 14, but all the money she made went back into her career: coaches, travel to events, more training.

When Sunitha retired from tennis, she had nothing left. She estimates she “maybe had $1000 in the bank.” Her relationship with her father was so abusive, she sought a restraining order against him and started over, rebuilding her life at age 23.

Starting off at community college, looked up endowment programs in Boston because she liked the city, and reached out to colleges that offered scholarships. Finishing college she got a corporate job, which was her goal - until she started working there. She realized her corporation didn’t have any loyalty toward her, so she started looking for ways to generate income outside of her salary and discovered real estate.

She now owns multiple units in the midwest, and is on the path to financial independence, starting with nothing but a 6th grade education at age 23. If you’re thinking you started too late, Sunitha’s story shows that financial independence is possible - at any age.

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You probably know Brandon Turner from the BiggerPockets Real Estate Investing podcast. On that show, he sounds like he’s got his life all together. But before he discovered the RIGHT way to do real estate, he made mistakes. LOTS of mistakes.

Today, Brandon shares everything he did wrong - from financing rehabs with a credit card to accumulating six figures in debt on properties he couldn’t sell.

But the most important thing Brandon did was learn from his mistakes. He read Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and put the lessons learned from that book into action, paid off his debt and started living the life he truly wanted.

The episode is for people who’ve made mistakes, who are in debt or struggling to find a path to financial freedom. Brandon shows you that it’s OK to make mistakes, you CAN recover, and the life you want is within your reach.

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On today’s episode of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, Co-Host Scott Trench teams up with two personal finance superstars in Whitney Hansen and Doc G of Diversefi.com. Together, they hear four “life after FIRE” stories, each completely different, each extremely powerful.

We talk with a business owner struggling with millions of dollars in debt who was able to sell his business, re-write his career (he is now a business coach), and get a new handle on his time.

Another guest retired with her husband in 2012 and together, they took on adventures and traveled the world together. Financial independence made all the difference for them in allowing them to experience as much of the world as possible, as her husband passed away a few years following early retirement.

A third couple left their high paying jobs at the height of their earning potential to travel the world together, and they could not be more thrilled with their decision or excited about life.

And finally, we interview the CTO of ChooseFI, William, who was able to retire early, overcome the loss of his wife, and use his financial freedom to pursue the job of his dreams with a great company, and provide for his children.  

These stories highlight the importance of achieving Financial Independence and using it to make the most of our lives. 

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You know Vicki Robin as the author of Your Money or Your Life, but on today’s show, we dive MUCH deeper into her story and her background. Growing up without a lot of money, she learned how to use her resources to appear as though she had more. With limited funds, her mother taught her that she could use them all at once on one thing, or she could stretch them further by shopping at a discount store.

Vicki carried these lessons through her adult life, moving into homesteading and while, technically living under the poverty line, she never felt the pinch of not having all the trappings of the modern world.

In fact, it wasn’t until she met Joe Dominguez, learned the foundation of what would later become Your Money or Your Life, and started teaching others about how to handle their finances that she realized that the gap between what she had and what others had was quite vast.

She knew she had to appear prosperous, so people wouldn’t reject her message simply by her appearance.

Her message has reached more than one million people, and has changed the lives and financial futures of countless more. 

Vicki herself has been able to focus on her passion - environmental issues - and has the freedom to pursue her passions due to her fully funded retirement at such an early age.

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Financial Mechanic wanted a puppy - and her parents told her she could have one when her little sister turned her age (in four years). When she asked how much puppies cost, she was told $100. So Financial Mechanic started saving. Everything!

Birthday money, Christmas money, anytime she received a dime, it went into her puppy fund.

Fast forward 4 years, and she tries to hand over the $100 - to her parents shock. “No, you keep that, we’ll buy the puppy.”

For four years she had been saving, so she just continued. By the time she graduated high school, she had $8,000 in savings. Her parents paid for her college education, and she knew she wanted options. 

She studied Mechanical Engineering which led to programming, which led to a 6-month assignment overseas. Upon her return, she discovered mass layoffs - and that she was significantly underpaid!

In this episode we talk about how to prepare for an interview, how to negotiate salary, how salary isn’t the only thing you can negotiate, and how intentionally pursuing a goal can help you achieve it faster and easier.

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Wilson Muscadin grew up knowing how to handle money. His father assigned him “book reports” rather than simply giving him an allowance. But the books he read were personal finance books, like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Millionaire Next Door and Think and Grow Rich.

Unsurprisingly, Wilson learned a lot from reading these books. Well played, Dad Muscadin. Wilson handled his finances intelligently through high school and into college, where he saw so many friends making ridiculous mistakes with their money. Things like charging pizza and gas - and not paying off the credit card bill at the end of every month!

He graduated with very little undergrad debt and worked in corporate insurance, but always wanted to teach people about finance. Back to school for an MBA at Duke - and more than $100,000 in student loan debt!!!

Wilson’s path to teaching people how to fix their finances was cemented when a random Facebook post about paying off his student loan debt (4 months after his first son was born) garnered more comments and questions than the post about the birth of his child!

Wilson paid off his debt, now has two sons, moved across the country and is dedicated to helping more people understand how money works, and break the cycle of paycheck-to-paycheck so they can become financially free.

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One of the most commonly asked questions in the BiggerPockets Forums is “How do I get started investing in real estate with no money?” Craig Curelop has the perfect answer to this question - House Hacking!

Craig shares his own story of three house hacks - and counting! We dive into the numbers, look at what makes a good property to house hack, and even talk about the different ways to hack your housing.

Craig also shares ways he dealt with people who didn’t understand what he was doing - including his family and most of his friends. 

Craig even shares his biggest house hacking mistake - how not following his tenant screening protocol led to a terrible experience.

If you’re thinking about jumping into house hacking, this episode lays it all out.

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The absolute MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED question I get about Early Retirement is “What do I do about healthcare?”

Without going into too much detail, we’re all aware that healthcare costs are fairly ridiculous in America. Not properly planning for healthcare can be catastrophic - one unexpected event can literally wipe you out.

Lynn Frair from FIHealthcare.com joins us today to share the results of her intense research into the options available to early retirees. She has found 18 different healthcare options and shares them with us. She also has created a crowdsourcing database for other options. (If you’ve got a different way to procure healthcare, she’d love to include it in her database!)

If you are on the path to financial independence, you NEED this episode. 

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All the BiggerPockets podcast hosts on stage in one place! 

This bonus episode was recorded at the BiggerPockets Conference 2019 on October 7th in front of a live audience of more than 1,000 people at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn.

We turned the mics over to our members, who fired a bunch of great questions at Scott Trench and Mindy Jensen, Brandon Turner and David Greene, Joshua Dorkin, and J and Carol Scott.

Our panelists covered some nitty gritty real estate topics, like tackling vacancy and how to invest IRA funds, as well as big-picture concepts like motivation, marketing, and teaching family members the importance of investing at an early age.

Also, everyone reveals which animal they would be if they had to choose, and a member of the audience challenges David Greene to produce an analogy on the spot. Listen to find out whether he performed under pressure! 

Our first conference in seven years was a big success, and we’re so thankful to everyone who came out to learn, network, and have a great time.

Download this bonus episode, and be sure to subscribe to all three shows BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast, BiggerPockets Money Podcast, and BiggerPockets Business Podcast so you won't miss an episode.

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