Finerate

One in three Americans plans to start a side hustle or business in 2026. Most of the conversation around that number is about how to do it. Few conversations are about whether you're ready and what to do with the money when it starts coming in.

That's this episode.

They cover:

• What's actually driving the side hustle surge: ambition versus necessity
• The financial readiness checklist before you start
• The order of operations when you start receiving consistent side hustle income
• The self-employment tax surprise that blindsides many first-timers
• Why building a side hustle around what you genuinely want to offer beats chasing trends
• Whether 2026 with its slow hiring market, AI disruption, economic uncertainty, is actually a good time to start something new

If you're sitting on an idea, already running something informally, or wondering whether the timing is finally right, this one is for you.

Remember to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could benefit.

Creating Wealth is hosted by Anastasia Taber, CFP®, and her father Bill Taber, a 40+ year investment advisor. New episodes every other Friday.

The S&P 500 is near record highs. So why does your financial life still feel uncertain?

In this episode, Anastasia and Bill tackle the disconnect that a lot of people are feeling in this moment where markets are up, hiring is slow, costs are still high, and a general sense that the headline numbers don't match what's happening on the ground.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why the gap between what markets are doing and what households are experiencing is real and what it means for your decisions
• Bill and Anastasia's revised emergency funds number
• How to guard against your own protective instincts
• Why millennials have been conditioned to buy the dip, and why that assumption deserves a second look
• What Bill and Anastasia both believe will define the people who look back on this economic moment and say they made it through stronger

This is about laying the financial foundation that makes you okay regardless of what the headlines say.

Creating Wealth is hosted by Anastasia Taber, CFP®, and her father Bill Taber, a 40-year investment advisor. New episodes every other Friday.

What does Star Wars have to do with building wealth? More than you'd think.

In this episode, Anastasia introduces Bill to the core framework from James Clear's bestselling Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. This wide-ranging conversation connects several threads like Daoism, Newton's First Law, and what Yoda would say, to help you establish your best financial habits.

• Bill shares three real patterns he has seen across 40+ years of working with clients and the small mistakes that can quietly derail wealth building over time.
• Why "I am someone who builds wealth" is fundamentally different from "I want to save more money" and the ancient philosophy behind it.
• Anastasia and Bill disagree on what they have seen when it comes to money beliefs.
• The specific moment when people damage the compounding curve without fully understanding what they've lost.
• The single financial habit Bill recommends above almost everything else and the small salary move Anastasia says will compound your wealth.
• Why starting is the hardest part, what a gym story about 100 lbs has to do with your savings account, and what Social Security and AI have to do with urgency right now.

Listen in to learn how Atomic Habits by James Clear applies to your financial life.

Creating Wealth is hosted by Anastasia Taber, CFP®, and her father Bill Taber, a 40-year investment advisor. New episodes every other Friday.

Fair warning: this one is a little different.

Every April Fools Day, Anastasia and Bill take a break from their regularly scheduled financial wisdom to do something a little silly, and this year is no exception. In today's episode, they take a "deep dive" on cryptocurrency, unpacking blockchain technology, decentralization, volatility, peer-to-peer transactions, and the importance of planning for your ultimate long-term investment.

Yes, that one.

If you make it to the end without groaning at least once, we'll be genuinely impressed.

Six years in, and this might be our favorite tradition. Thank you for being part of it.

What if the biggest obstacle to building wealth isn't what you know, but what you believe?

This is one of our most downloaded episodes ever, and we're bringing it back because three years later, it's more relevant than ever. In this conversation, Anastasia and Bill break down the four money beliefs, also called money scripts, that most of us picked up in childhood, long before we had any real experience with money. Because they formed so early, most people don't even know they have them.

They cover:

• Money avoidance: the belief that money is bad, that you don't deserve it, or that good people shouldn't want it
• Money worship: the belief that more money will solve everything, leading to chronic overspending or overworking
• Money status: tying your self-worth to your net worth, and what that quietly does to your financial decisions
• Money vigilance: the anxious, secretive relationship with money that can lead to under-spending even when you can afford more

Understanding which of these scripts is running in the background of your financial life is the first step to changing it, and this episode will help you figure out exactly that.

Originally released March 3, 2023. Re-released because some conversations are worth having twice.

Creating Wealth is hosted by Anastasia Taber, CFP®, and her father Bill Taber, a 40+ year investment advisor. New episodes every other Friday.

What if the best financial advice ever written came from ancient Babylon and was published exactly 100 years ago?

In this episode, Anastasia and Bill walk through the seven money principles from George S. Clason's classic The Richest Man in Babylon and break down why every single one of them still holds up in 2026. Bill has had his own handwritten notes from this book for decades, and today he brings them to the conversation.

They cover:

• Pay yourself first — why 10% before anything else is the non-negotiable foundation of wealth, and what actually gets in the way
• Control your expenditures — the difference between what you need, what you want, and what you think you're supposed to have
• Make your money multiply — what compounding actually looks like over a lifetime, and where to start if you feel like you have nothing to invest
• Guard your money from loss — what Clason called "romantic desires in investment," and what that looks like today (hint: you've seen it on social media)
• Own your home, insure your future income, and increase your ability to earn — which of these three is the most underrated in 2026, and why Anastasia and Bill don't agree

They also explore a bigger question: Did George Clason understand the psychology of money before behavioral finance was even a field?

Whether you've read the book or never heard of it, this episode will leave you with at least one principle you can act on this week.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share it with someone in your life who needs to hear it: a friend who's been putting off their finances, a young adult just getting started, or anyone who could use a reset on how they think about money.

How often should you rebalance your investment portfolio?

If you Google this question, you'll find the standard answer: quarterly or annually. But what if that advice doesn't fit YOUR situation?

In this episode, father-daughter advisor team Bill and Anastasia Taber tackle the rebalancing debate:

Questions answered:

✓ What is portfolio rebalancing and why does it matter?

✓ Why do passive investors rebalance on a calendar schedule?

✓ What does academic research say about rebalancing benefits?

✓ When should you break the quarterly rebalancing rule?

✓ How do taxes change your rebalancing strategy?

✓ Should you rebalance differently in your 401(k) vs. taxable account?

✓ What's the difference between rebalancing for passive vs. active investors?

The surprising truth: Without rebalancing, a 60/40 portfolio can drift to 80%+ stocks, creating way more risk than you intended. But rigid calendar-based rebalancing isn't the only solution. And for some investors, it's not even the best one.

Anastasia (CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™) and Bill (40+ years managing client money) explain why they don't follow conventional rebalancing advice, share real examples of when calendar rebalancing hurts returns, and reveal the tax implications many investors miss.

Your takeaway: A clear framework for deciding how often YOU should rebalance based on your investment style, tax situation, and time horizon.

Perfect for DIY investors, those working with advisors, or anyone trying to build a smarter investment strategy.

Subscribe for behavioral finance insights and practical financial tips. New episodes every other Friday.

Bitcoin dropped from all-time highs. AI agents are making headlines. Ray Dalio is warning about a once-in-a-generation debt cycle. So what should you actually do with your money right now?

In this episode, we cut through the noise to help millennials navigate today's volatile markets. We break down what's really happening with crypto, investor sentiment, and the AI revolution, and why the fundamentals of wealth building matter more during uncertainty, not less.

Here's what we cover:

• Why investor sentiment above 70% is a historical warning sign
• Ray Dalio's Big Cycle Framework and what Stage 5 means for your money
• The AI boom: Separating what's interesting vs. what's actually actionable for your portfolio
• How to handle FOMO around AI stocks and crypto
• We end with an action plan to protect your financial future

Whether you're wondering if you should sell everything, go to cash, or YOLO into AI stocks, this episode gives you the perspective and discipline to stay the course when headlines are screaming at you to panic.

Boring works. Boring wins. And this episode explains why.

Remember to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could benefit. For future podcast topics, you can email us at [email protected].

Related Episodes

What History Teaches Us About the Future of the U.S. Economy

Regulating Emotions During Jumpy Markets: A Re-Release

Is Investing in the Stock Market the Same as Gambling?

Why do lottery winners often end up broke within three years? Why do you suddenly face an unexpected car repair the moment you get a raise?

It's not bad luck—it's your Money Blueprint.

In this episode, we dive deep into the psychology of wealth with a breakdown of T. Harv Eker's classic book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. We explore the groundbreaking premise that financial success is 80% psychology and only 20% mechanics. You can know everything about stocks and real estate, but if your internal "financial thermostat" is set to "struggle," you will subconsciously sabotage your own growth.

In this episode, we cover:

• The "Financial Thermostat": Why you are subconsciously programmed to earn a specific amount of money (and how to reset it higher).
• Interest vs. Commitment: The difference between "wanting" to be rich and doing what is required.
• The 5 Wealth Files: The specific mindset shifts millennials need to make, including:
  • Victim vs. Creator: Stopping the blame game to take 100% responsibility.
  • Offense vs. Defense: Why playing "not to lose" keeps you stuck in the middle class.
  • Net Worth vs. Working Income: Why high earners often have low wealth.
• The Rewiring Process: A practical 5-step system (Awareness, Understanding, Disassociation, Declaration, Action) to uninstall your limiting beliefs.
• The 7-Day Challenge: How to use physical declarations to change your internal programming this week.

If you feel like you are working hard but staying in the same financial place, this episode will show you how to stop fighting your results and start changing your roots. Remember to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could benefit. For future podcast topics, you can email us at [email protected].

Is your New Year's resolution to "spend less"? We think you can do better. In this episode, we ditch the restrictive "financial diet" mentality and focus on a Value-Based Audit for 2026.

Budgeting isn't just about math; it's about alignment. We share our personal year-end spending reviews (the good, the bad, and the surprising) and introduce a new framework to help you design a budget that funds your "Future Self" rather than your past habits.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Personal Audit: What we learned from our own spending in 2025.
• Keep, Kill, Pivot: A 3-step framework to audit your expenses without the guilt.
• The "Million-Mile Mindset": Why driving your car into the ground is the ultimate "Creating Wealth" hack.
• The "Grace Clause": Why most January budgets fail by February, and what system you need to stay on track when life happens.
• Spending Truisms: Why "what gets measured, gets managed" is still the golden rule of personal finance.

Whether you are looking to pay off debt or simply align your spending with your values, this episode is full of specific advice and wisdom to help you have a successful financial year ahead.

Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who could benefit. For future podcast topics, you can email us at [email protected].