Financial Conversation Podcast

Today we are talking about the pros and cons of working for a traditional employer vs. running your own business. We've found that sometimes the grass isn't always greener when you're self-employed.

Quitting your job to run your own business may sound like a dream, but there are some downsides and factors to consider before you make the leap to self employment.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:50 – Benefits Packages
• 6:20 – Paid Time Off
• 12:20 – Setting Boundaries
• 17:00 – Flexible Work Hours
• 24:45 – Chonce's Work Experiences
• 34:15 – Insurance, Taxes, and Other Expenses
• 41:45 – Benefits of Running Your Own Business

Enjoy!

In this episode, we are lamenting the fact that summer is almost over and it's time for back to school shopping already.

Yes, it's almost that time of year once again and it can be a real nightmare for parents who have to budget and pay for clothes and school supplies for their kids.

If you are dreading back to school shopping, check out the money saving tips we share in this episode with our special guest, Lauren Greutman.

Lauren is a budget savvy mom of 4 kids, so we knew she'd be the perfect guest to join our conversation about saving on back to school shopping.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:50 – Lauren's strategy for back to school shopping
• 8:10 – How to use apps and price matching to save, plus how to "stack savings"
• 13:15 – How to tell kids no when back to school shopping
• 20:30 – Shopping in store vs. online
• 22:30 – Lauren's top 3 choices for money saving apps
• 30:00 – Clothing prices: boys vs. girls

Related links to check out:

• LaurenGreutman.com
• Cardpool
• Swagbucks
• Flipp App
• Red Laser
• ShopSavvy
• Target Cartwheel
• Ibotta
• Checkout51
• TheRecoveringSpender.com
• TheFinancialPlanner.com

In this episode, we're talking about what financial freedom means to us and why it's such an important concept to think about no matter where you're at in your financial journey.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:10 – What financial freedom means to us
• 8:15 – The concept of mini retirements
• 15:15 – People who've achieved financial freedom and how they got there
• 20:15 – Obstacles that may prevent financial freedom

Related links to check out:

• Frugal Woods
• Go Curry Cracker
• Mr. Money Mustache
• Afford Anything
• Afford Anything Real Estate Course Course
• FCP004 How to Practice Delayed Gratification
• FCP029 Minimalism and Money

We are going to be admitting and discussing our worst financial mistakes. Just because we blog about money doesn't mean we are experts. All of us have made some money mistakes along the way, and now we are going to share our stories with you in hopes you can learn from them.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:10 – Kayla's Financial Mistakes
• 2:10 – Chonce's Financial Mistakes
• 6:50 – Erin's Financial Mistakes
• 10:15 – Why bank accounts are a pain in the neck when you move
• 12:30 – How to create a money safety net
• 14:50 – How to avoid paying fees
• 17:35 – Kayla's light bulb moment
• 18:35 – Chonce's fender bender
• 22:20 – Speaking of car insurance...
• 23:15 – Is there anything we are proud of?
• 26:00 – Chonce's final thoughts on making financial mistakes

Related links to check out:

• FCP021 – Things You Always Wanted to Know About Money (But Didn't Want to Ask)

Enjoy!

This week's episode is a combination of two of our favorite topics: minimalism and money!

Minimalism has become a hot topic in recent years and we discuss things like what originally got us excited about minimalism.

Minimalism and money have more to do with each other than you might think. We'll give you some examples of how minimalism and money can go hand in hand.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:15 – Do you start life as a minimalist or is it a learned trait during adulthood?
• 10:00 – Erin's "Extreme" minimalism
• 15:30 – Has minimalism saved you money?
• 21:00 – Getting rid of non-essential items
• 23:00 – Benefits of minimalism besides saving money
• 29:15 – Cleaning up digital clutter
• 31:40 – Do you use premium online storage or pay for a physical storage unit?

Related links to check out:

• Becoming Minimalist - What is Minimalism?

Enjoy!

Are staycations really a good way to save money? Can you even have fun on a staycation? What about how you can enjoy your city when you live in a small town?

We used to think we were so over the idea of taking a staycation to save money vs. going on a real vacation. But brainstorming for this week's episode really got most of us back on the staycation wagon.

As you might have guessed, in this episode we are going to be sharing some of our favorite ideas for how you can enjoy your city this summer so you can have fun and save money. Kayla is even chiming in with some ideas to help you enjoy yourself if you live in a small town or rural area.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:20 – Have you ever taken a staycation?
• 5:15 – A good budget for a staycation
• 11:40 – Staycation activities for cities and small towns
• 21:30 – Libraries are your friend!
• 32:00 – Camping is Fun! Watch out for the bears!

Enjoy!

This is a very special episode as we discussed a topic everyone can probably relate to: working toward achieving financial wellness.

We were also joined by a special guest, Jason Vitug, from the personal finance website Phroogal, to help spread awareness about this topic and share his story.

Jason is a world traveler, author, blogger, speaker, and most recently, he's decided to travel around the country this summer visiting major cities in each state to host events for a local grassroots experiment he calls, The Road to Financial Wellness.

We were pleasantly surprised when we heard about Jason's plan to visit every major city in the nation in just 3 months and encourage a national conversation on financial well being. We'll discuss all of that and more in this exciting episode!

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:50 – Jason's backstory
• 4:30 – What Jason thinks the definition of Financial Wellness is
• 5:50 – Intentions of the Road to Financial Wellness Tour
• 10:15 – What kind of challenges Jason has faced leading the tour
• 12:30 – What the most rewarding part of hosting the tour is
• 17:00 – The differences between last year's tour and this years
• 23:10 – Highlights from Jason's new book and how we're all on the same page about financial literacy
• 44:45 – What's next for Jason

Related links to check out:

• Phroogal
• The Road to Financial Wellness
• #TheRoad2016
• Ep2: Your Job... or Your Health?
• You Only Live Once by Jason Vitug

Enjoy!

This episode was a real treat as we were joined by a fellow entrepreneur, Matt Giovanisci.

Matt is what you might call a "serial entrepreneur" who has started several successful, and not so successful, businesses over the past few years. He also loves to rap about everything from pool care, to making money, and more.

We were very excited to talk with Matt about his experiences with entrepreneurship and running successful businesses.

[powerpress]

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:15 – Matt's backstory
• 2:10 – Matt's unyielding entrepreneurial itch
• 5:00 – How to validate business plans and decide on good ideas
• 12:15 – What do you do when a business fails?
• 20:30 – Do you set income goals for your businesses?
• 23:10 – How do your businesses earn money?
• 31:30 – How do you know when it's time to leave a business behind?
• 39:45 – Matt's favorite lifestyle aspect of being an entrepreneur
• 48:00 – The most beneficial skill Matt has acquired over the years
• 57:30 – A spotlight on Matt's upcoming projects

• @MattGiovanisci
• Swim University
• Roasty Coffee
• Driven Show
• Money Lab
• FCP007 – Freelancing: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
• FCP013 – Crazy Side Hustle Stories
• FCP016 – Dealing with Business Burnout

With college graduation having just taken place a few weeks ago, we thought we should talk about some of the money mistakes we made, and people we know have made after graduating from college.

When you have just graduated college, you might think that the world is at your fingertips, and if you've just landed a full-time career job, you may feel on top of the world since you will likely be earning more money than you've ever earned before in your life. However, this doesn't mean you can spend your money foolishly.

Here are some of the things we wish we had known about money when we graduated college.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:45 – How to do your taxes
• 4:30 – Paying off student loans
• 7:00 – Saving during college and after graduating college
• 11:30 – Don't overestimate or overspend your income
• 13:10 – Things we regret doing wrong with money
• 16:50 – High yield savings accounts
• 21:10 – How to dress to impress for less
• 29:45 – Building credit and using credit wisely
• 40:00 – Saving for retirement

Related links to check out:

• Credit Karma
• Credit Sesame
• IRS
• Turbo Tax
• Tax Act
• Betterment
• CapitalOne 360
• Episode 5: The Truth About Student Loan Debt
• Episode 21: Things You Always Wanted to Know About Money (But Didn't Want to Ask)
• Episode 18: Overcoming Shopping Addictions

Enjoy!

In this episode, we decided to tackle some more of the most popular personal finance questions from Quora. Plus, we got to tackle our first reader question!

These are a few more things you might have always wanted to know about money but were a little afraid to ask.

In future episodes of Things You Always Wanted to Know About Money, we'd love to tackle some questions from our readers and listeners, so be sure to send us questions if you want us to answer them.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:35 – How can you budget for personal finance?
• 3:50 – How can you stop living paycheck to paycheck?
• 8:10 – Different types of budget plans
• 12:50 – What are some general tips to help clear up debt?
• 14:45 – Reader Question: How to get started saving for children's higher education
• 22:30 – Is it true that you can't get rich working for someone else?
• 27:00 – What are the best money management apps?

Related links to check out:

• Ep.8 – Why You Don't Have to be Uber Frugal to Succeed
• Ep.15 – Spring Spending Temptations
• Finance Girl - The 50/20/30 Budget
• Club Thrifty - 4 Reasons Zero-Sum Budgets Are Awesome
• Money Peach - How to Budget with an Irregular Income
• Ep.13 – Crazy Side Hustle Stories
• Ep. 18 – Overcoming Shopping Addictions
• Ep. 19 – Debt Payoff Strategies
• Catherine Alford - Alternative Ways to Save for College
• Ep.7 – Freelancing: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
• Frugalwoods - How We Save 65% Annually

Enjoy!