By Andrew Chen
4.6
6767 ratings
The podcast currently has 95 episodes available.
#95: The biggest concern many would-be retirees have, at least in the US, is the cost of healthcare.
Not only is healthcare more expensive in the US than in every other industrialized country. There’s also no national health insurance system to control costs or standardize care quality…unless you’re a senior or very poor (or both).
In fact, were it not for worries about healthcare, there would undoubtedly be way more US retirees out there today. The average retirement age would drop noticeably.
Because no less than your retirement security is at stake, healthcare financial planning is retirement planning.
That’s why I invited Bo Bowen to the podcast today to share his unique perspective on healthcare financial planning in retirement. Bo is both a healthcare practitioner (pharmacist) and a certified financial advisor who has specialized in advising on healthcare financial planning and retirement health insurance. His dual background gives him unique insight into the way healthcare financial planning is crucial for retirement security.
We discuss:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/health-insurance-retirement-planning
If you’ve already retired, what do you do for health insurance? Knowing what you know now, what (if anything) would you do differently in terms of healthcare planning in the years before retiring?
If you have NOT retired yet, how big of a factor is healthcare and health insurance to your decision of when to retire?
Let me know by leaving a comment.
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Related links:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.
#94: Real estate investing changed a lot the last couple years, but one asset class consistently punched above its weight: short-term rentals, a.k.a., STRs, e.g., Airbnbs.
In 2020, when people couldn’t go on vacation by hopping on a plane to Europe, South America, or Asia, they got in their cars and drove to national parks and mountain / beach / lake towns. Short-term rentals, often seen as safer than hotels, were on 🔥.
In 2021, this trend exploded. 🔥🔥
In 2022, when flying became a thing again, so did “revenge travel.” STRs accelerated even more. 🔥🔥🔥
With average daily rates skyrocketing the last couple years, hordes of real estate investors snapped up homes to turn them into Airbnbs, trying to chase yield.
Now the market is super saturated, with daily rates even contracting in places, and there’s tons of new short-term rental inventory (over half of Airbnb listings added since 2020).
So how can you stand out as an STR real estate investor in the current climate?
In this episode, I interview Diya Liu, a seasoned short-term rental investor who scaled from zero to 9 STRs in one year, netting $100k annual profit, and then quit her BigLaw job to do short-term rental real estate investing full-time. She currently owns three hotels and a dozen STRs.
We discuss:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/short-term-rental-hotel-investing
Are you an STR investor? If so, how have bookings changed in the last 1-2 years? Do you see over-saturation in listings inventory in your area? Are you trying out any different strategies this year? Let me know by leaving a comment.
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If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!
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If you liked this episode, would you please leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts? It’d mean the world to me and your review also helps others find my podcast, too!
Related links:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.
#93: Early retirees often fill their early years in retirement with lots of travel. There is even a vibrant community of nomadic early retirees who travel long-term.
But what do you do about health insurance, especially if you’re American? Unlike in most other industrialized countries that have universal health insurance, American health insurance is generally tied to your employer, at least before you’re old enough to qualify for Medicare. That means if you don’t have a job, you generally don’t have health insurance. For early retirees, that’s a problem.
What are the health insurance options for early retirees, especially those who plan to travel significantly in retirement?
This week, I chat about early retirement health insurance options with Tracy Winters, Director of Individual Insurance at Good Neighbor Insurance, an Arizona-based health insurance brokerage that specializes in health insurance consulting for long-term travelers, expats, and traveling early retirees.
We discuss:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/health-insurance-retirement-travel
If you’re early retired, what do you do for health insurance?
How do you handle health insurance when traveling as an early retiree?
If you’re planning to early retire in the future, how important is health insurance coverage to your decision of timing when to early retiree?
Let me know by leaving a comment.
Don't miss an episode, hit that subscribe button...
If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!
I need your help, please leave a listener review :)
If you liked this episode, would you please leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts? It’d mean the world to me and your review also helps others find my podcast, too!
Related links:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.
#92: Most FIRE stories are of men. A lot seem to be of ex-software engineers (on blogs anyway). It’s rare to see profiles of early retired women, especially single women who retired early from ambitious careers.
Also, most FIRE stories focus on strategies for things like accumulating enough assets to FIRE. Investment selection. Portfolio allocation. Safe withdrawal rates. Sequence risk.
These are important topics for sure. I’ve covered many of them on HYW. But they are also very much about the mechanics.
It’s rare to hear how early retirees grapple with stuff like: loss of professional identity, building a new non-career identity, finding purpose, fulfillment, and community as an early retiree; or dating and companionship in early retirement.
This week, I chat with Kim (last name withheld at her request) about her journey from MBA to corporate career to early retirement at 39 and her life and identity now 5 years post-FIRE. We discuss some of these rarely mentioned topics, as well as what it’s been like so far in early retirement as a single woman.
We talk about:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/retire-early-women-business-career-professional
Know any other interesting unmarried women who are pursuing or achieved FIRE? I’d be interested in potentially interviewing them for the podcast. Let me know by leaving a comment.
Don't miss an episode, hit that subscribe button...
If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!
I need your help, please leave a listener review :)
If you liked this episode, would you please leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts? It’d mean the world to me and your review also helps others find my podcast, too!
Related links:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.
#91: It’s no secret that many healthcare professionals earn lots of money. So, you might think it’s relatively easy for them to achieve financial independence and retire early (or at least step back from demanding clinical hours).
Aaaand….you’d be right about that!
Sure, earning healthcare money is not a requirement for FIRE. But if you do, you certainly have more options…even if you also have large expenses (like kids).
This week, I talk with Dr. G (anonymized, his request), a dentist with two kids in the midwest who built a $7 million nest egg before stepping back from clinical practice. He explains the actions he took to build his wealth…and what he’s doing now.
We discuss:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/dentist-financial-independence-retire-early
What type of FIRE profiles (career path, earning level, family/kid status, etc) do you want to hear more about? Let me know by leaving a comment.
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Related links:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.
#90: It’s back to school season, and that means it’s also the time of year for high school seniors to start agonizing over college applications.
Applying to college is an anxiety-filled rite of passage for high school seniors, but it’s often just as anxiety-inducing for parents who bang their heads on how to pay for it.
That’s because paying for college is, for many families, the biggest single expense they’ll have for their child. It’s also often the second biggest life expense a family will incur, right behind buying a home. Paying for college is like buying a Tesla Model Y and giving it away. Every year, for four years.
So this week, I chat with my friend Ann Garcia about how to pay for college. She just wrote a new book on this topic, which we discuss in detail, along with important new updates to the federal financial aid process (FAFSA) + key things to know about 529 plan rules.
We discuss:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/how-to-pay-for-college
Have you been through (or will soon go through) the college financial aid process? What’s been the most confusing or frustrating aspect? Let me know by leaving a comment.
Don't miss an episode, hit that subscribe button...
If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!
I need your help, please leave a listener review :)
If you liked this episode, would you please leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts? It’d mean the world to me and your review also helps others find my podcast, too!
Related links:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Mus
#89: Summer is fast approaching, and that’s traditionally when home-buying season ramps up.
This week, I share insights on how to conduct due diligence when you’re looking to buy a home. Whether you’re buying a primary residence or investing in rental real estate, rigorous due diligence is critical to ensuring you get a good property at a reasonable price. In this episode, I explain my entire process for thoroughly analyzing a property before writing an offer.
You learn:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/real-estate-due-diligence
If you’ve bought a home before, what are the most important due diligence items you look for? Let me know by leaving a comment.
Don't miss an episode, hit that subscribe button...
If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!
I need your help, please leave a listener review :)
If you liked this episode, would you please leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts? It’d mean the world to me and your review also helps others find my podcast, too!
Related links:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.
#88: Have you maxed out your backdoor + mega backdoor Roth conversions yet?
For high earners, direct contributions to a Roth IRA, and tax-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA, are limited by income thresholds.
But ALL taxpayers – even high earners – can still invest money into a Roth via backdoor Roth conversion. And if your employer’s 401k has the right plan features, you can turbo-charge your Roth conversions another 7x by doing the “mega backdoor” Roth conversion.
What the heck do these mean? And how exactly do you do them?
This week, I share what these concepts are, tips for how to execute them successfully, and what you need to know about your employer 401k to turbo-charge your Roth conversions.
I explain:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/mega-backdoor-roth
Have you done a backdoor or mega backdoor Roth conversion before? If you’ve decided not to, what dissuaded you? Let me know by leaving a comment.
Don't miss an episode, hit that subscribe button...
If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!
I need your help, please leave a listener review :)
If you liked this episode, would you please leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts? It’d mean the world to me and your review also helps others find my podcast, too!
Related links:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.
#87: Remote work and digital nomadism have always been of particular interest to folks in the FIRE community.
After the pandemic, remote work was suddenly thrust upon the entire knowledge workforce. And after two long pandemic years, the possibility that remote work for many professions will persist and become long-term viable options is tantalizingly close.
What is the state of remote work right now? Where is the future of remote work headed? What jobs are most in-demand for remote work, and how much can you get paid for them?
This week, I deep dive on these questions with Sharon Koifman, founder of DistantJob, a remote-only recruiting agency that helps companies find full-time remote employees around the world.
We discuss:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/future-of-remote-work
And now, I’m super curious…. Are you a remote worker or digital nomad? Trying to be? Wish to be? If so, what type of work do you do?
If you work remotely for a company, was your compensation adjusted when you switched to remote?
What’s the biggest benefit vs. challenge you have experienced as a remote worker? How do you build (and keep) strong connections to people in your company/organization?
Does being able to be remote change your FIRE plans, timeline, or philosophy at all?
Let me know by leaving a comment!
Don't miss an episode, hit that subscribe button...
If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!
I need your help, please leave a listener review :)
If you liked this episode, would you please leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts? It’d mean the world to me and your review also helps others find my podcast, too!
Related links:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.
#86: Pretty much everyone in the FIRE community has heard of the 4% rule.
It is the starting safe withdrawal rate number for a 30-year retirement horizon that was proposed a few decades ago by retirement researchers.
And it has attained near pop culture status in the FIRE community because it’s such a simple mental shortcut to answer the question: “how much can I safely withdraw from my portfolio each year in retirement and have high confidence that I’ll be financially secure for the rest of my life?”
This is easily the most important question for ANY retiree, and especially early retirees. So, it’s no wonder this topic is so intensely discussed in the FIRE community.
More than a few early retirees and FIRE bloggers swear by the 4% rule and have plunged into their own retirement using this withdrawal rate expecting that it will carry them through for the rest of their lives.
But when you ask the quants – the economists with the PhDs – there is broad agreement that the 4% rule no longer works most of the time.
But why not?
This week, I invited the renowned retirement economist Wade Pfau, PhD/CFA, who is Co-Director of the American College Center for Retirement Income, to share insight on why the 4% rule no longer works in today’s environment. He suggests an alternate safe withdrawal rate number that may be better suited for today’s retirees.
We discuss:
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/4-percent-rule
What do you think your safe withdrawal rate number is? And what asset allocation do you assume for that? Let me know by leaving a comment.
Don't miss an episode, hit that subscribe button...
If you liked this episode, subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming episodes!
I need your help, please leave a listener review :)
If you liked this episode, would you leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts? It’d mean the world to me and your review also helps others find my podcast, too!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Intro/Outro: Old Bossa by Twin Musicom.
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