Mike and Maggie interview Scott Vance, host of the Sheepdog Financial podcast. Scott retired after 22 years in the Army, and now runs a financial planning and tax practice. Scott shares his own personal finance journey, and some helpful perspective on many financial considerations for those in the military. His insights and learnings are equally applicable to military and civilians.

In this episode, Mike and Maggie review their March and April expenses to give a view into their monthly spending levels, and more specifically how the corona pandemic quarantine has impacted them. This is a more casual conversation and episode, and we hope hearing what others are spending their money on is helpful as you consider your own spending levels.

In this episode, Mike and Maggie follow-up on their minimalism + money episode with a more tactical discussion on decluttering. This episode will help inspire you to declutter with specific tips and recommendations on how to get started, what to focus on, inspirational resources, and much more. We talk through three key areas of focus - (1) Decluttering tips for minimizing what you already have, (2) Limiting new items you bring into your life, and (3) Digital decluttering.

In this episode, Mike and Maggie kick-off their new mentor series with a discussion with Mark Horstman, the co-founder of Manager Tools. Manager Tools is a management consulting firm with a dual mission to make every manager effective and every professional productive. Mark co-hosts a podcast also called Manager Tools, which has millions of downloads a month and has won tons of awards, being named the world’s best business podcast. We have a great discussion with Mark as he shares his wisdom on money, work, happiness, retirement, lean living, and more.

In this episode, Mike and Maggie talk about the relationship between minimalism and money. We discuss what minimalism is, the idea of intentionality and bringing more of it into your life. We also dive into the differences between being frugal and minimalism, how more stuff does not create happiness, and much more. We wrap up the discussion with some thoughts on taking some time to evaluate what really matters to you, and consider redefining your new normal.

In this episode, Mike and Maggie talk about the importance of tracking net worth, the single-most important tool to help guide and improve financial decisions in your life. We discuss the value in tracking your net worth, how to manage it, how to develop a net worth mindset, and how to set net worth goals.

Mike and Maggie interview Chris from the Inspire to FIRE blog. Chris shares his thoughts on what led him down the financial independence path, his humble beginnings in life, how he and his wife evolved on this journey together, and why he started the Inspire to FIRE blog. Chris offers a lot of great advice, spreadsheets, and other resources on the Inspire to FIRE blog and we recommend checking it out.

Mike and Maggie discuss their college experiences. College is one of the most expensive items you’ll have related to kids, and it’s a looming financial burden for many parents. We discuss if college is even worth it, how to think through the ROI of where a child goes to school, why and how to start saving for college, and tips for saving on the cost of college.

Mike and Maggie discuss how you can save on your groceries. Grocery expenses can easily be $5,000 or even $20,000 a year. It’s a huge category you can find cost savings in. We talk through 10+ tips on how you can save money on your groceries.

In this episode we discuss the many benefits of improving your financial life, which leads us to a discuss on happiness, sex, and money. We cover the top 5 reasons we believe you should improve your finances and get financially fit. Getting financially fit will improve your sex life, Maggie guarantees it.