In this week’s episode, we give a refresher on travel hacking and share an update on our 1 million point goal this year. The power of travel hacking comes from the sign-up bonuses, not from normal spend. We’ve signed up for 9 different credit cards this year for a total of 800K+ points and miles. We share how our traveling hacking is helping to fund our summer travel adventures.

In this episode, we discuss simple and fun strategies for paying off debt. We often hear about good vs. bad debt, but don’t be fooled by companies trying to sell you loans. Almost all debt is bad, and if you are stuck with it, you should work hard to pay it off quickly. We share strategies for picking which debt you pay back first and ideas for making paying off your debt fun!

In this week’s episode, we discuss the recent volatility and decline in the stock market. It’s been a wild ride in 2022! With a dramatic pullback from recent stock market highs, it can be stressful to watch your investments. We discuss some of the reasons behind the declines and share some advice on how to handle bad news and make sure you make solid decisions with your investments.

In this week’s episode, Mike interviews Greg and Maggie about their last week of work and the first week of retirement. Greg and Maggie share how they initially gave their notice at work, then dig into more recent happenings of how their last week wrapped up and how they each felt. This episode was recorded four days into their retirement; they share their feelings in the early days of being retired, which might surprise many people.

In this episode, we discuss the concept of fear related to money and early retirement specifically. Based on a talk Maggie gave at campFI Southeast 2022, we dig into a discussion on fear and courage. We talk about what we’re afraid of, define fear, share the good and bad sides of fear, and discuss 8 ways you can conquer your financial fears.

In this episode, we share ideas for how everyone can save money on their cell phone bill. Most people can get unlimited cell phone cover in the United States for under $30 a month, so if you’re paying more than that, we challenge you to rethink what you need and consider switching cell phone providers. We talk through how to decide what you need from a cell phone plan, the difference in pre-paid versus traditional plans, specific carriers we recommend, how they price their plans, and how to approach coverage while traveling internationally.

In this week’s episode, we interview Landshark. Landshark is the pen name for a lawyer, father, husband, and now early retiree. He’s in his early 40s and lives in Colorado with his wife and two elementary school-aged kids. He spent nearly two decades as a practicing lawyer, and early on in his career, he realized he wanted more freedom and family time in his life. Landshark has been saving and investing aggressively for years and recently announced his retirement. We talk with Landshark about how he grew up, the concept of enough, the recent Marshall wildfires, early retirement plans, and much more.

In this episode, we share sustainable practices that save the environment and your wallet. In honor of Earth Day, we discuss why sustainability matters and dig into 22 tips to help the environment while also saving you money. We start with little day-to-day things you can do and then talk through bigger lifestyle changes to consider. Finally, we encourage everyone to look at their lifestyle and see what they can do to pull some of these more sustainable practices into their lives.

In this episode, we talk about all things inflation. We dissect the concept of inflation and discuss how you can proactively respond to and mitigate current inflation. Inflation is essentially the increase in prices of goods and services, but it’s not as simple as just a percentage increase for everything. Inflation might be hidden by marketers using several sneaky tactics like “shrinkflation.” Prices are going up for many things, and we offer some advice on how to handle it.

In this episode, we remind everyone that we have food at home, and so do you! Eating out can be one of the largest expense categories, and many people don’t realize how much they spend in this category until they start tracking their expenses. We talk through the benefits of eating at home versus eating out, tips and ideas for eating out less and eating at home more, and a few tips for reducing your spending when you decide to eat out. We hope this encourages everyone to be more intentional about eating out at restaurants because #wehavefoodathome.