We’re joined by fellow Atlantans- our friends Julien & Kiersten Saunders! They started their site Rich & Regular back in 2017 after they threw themselves into the financial independence movement and paid off $200,000 in debt. They’ve been featured virtually everywhere- the Times, the Atlantic, Bloomberg. They’re successful speakers, created a fantastic Youtube series called Money on the Table, and now they’re about to be published authors! Their book “Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away” comes out next week. In the book they write about creating your own career path, making peace with your finances, and building wealth on your own terms. During this interview we discuss Julien & Kiersten’s introduction to the FIRE movement, avoiding imposter syndrome when creating content, and how to actually know if it’s time to cash out by quitting your job.

During this episode we enjoyed a Valley of Gold by Wild Heaven! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!

Best friends out!

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Time for our Friday Flight! These episodes are a sampling of the week’s financial news and the impact on your personal finances. There are a lot of headlines out there, but we distill it down to specific takeaways that will allow you to kick off the weekend informed and help you to continue to make smart money moves. In this episode we cover some relevant and helpful stories like: perpetual quitting, the second hand surge, stepping away from social media and work, going prairie style to combat higher water bills, why a master’s degree can lead to a negative return on investment, avoiding crapcoins as payment for anything, fighting back against shrinkflation, and debt management plans.

And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money. Have an awesome weekend!

Best friends out!

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Imagine hopping on a flight to visit your parents on the other side of the world. You don’t avoid flying by plane because there’s likely going to be some turbulence- a few rough patches are to be expected. You take advantage of the modern marvel of a transatlantic flight and you go and see your family! Similarly, the stock market is the greatest wealth creating machine in history- it’s amazing! Investing in the market to achieve millionaire status has become possible for a much wider swath of folks but the path comes with its fair share of corrections and bear markets. To go back to the analogy- what if it's starting to look like air travel is no longer safe? You start to consider that upcoming flight! Sure, we’re seeing some market volatility now but future market predictions aren’t looking all that rosy either. Is it time to consider pulling out of the market? During this episode we’ll discuss why the market saw massive gains over the past 2 years, why we’re optimistic about the future of the stock market, what you should be doing if we experience a future of weak returns, and how you should be investing regardless of what’s going on with the stock market.

During this episode we enjoyed an Escape From Lager Mountain Flying Machine! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!

Best friends out!

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We’re kicking off the week by answering listener questions! And if you have a question that you’d like for us to answer on the show, we’d love for you to submit your own via HowToMoney.com/ask , send us your voice memo. Regardless of how random or bizarre you might think it is, we want to hear it!

1 - Should I buy ETFs or mutual funds when investing within a taxable brokerage account?

2 - What should we do with the proceeds from selling our house?

3 - As we achieve FIRE, how do we go about easily withdrawing our retirement funds early without getting hit with penalties?

4 - Is it a good idea to put down 0% on a new home? And if it is, what should I do with extra money that I would have on hand?

5 - Should I ditch my workplace 401k and move to a Roth IRA instead?

During this episode we enjoyed a Dad’s Oatmeal Cookie Stout by O’Fallon Brewery! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!

Best friends out!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Time for our Friday Flight! These episodes are a sampling of the week’s financial news and the impact on your personal finances. There are a lot of headlines out there, but we distill it down to specific takeaways that will allow you to kick off the weekend informed and help you to continue to make smart money moves. In this episode we cover some relevant and helpful stories like: last call for the $1,000 travel credit card welcome bonus, babysitters making bank, most folks are sour on stocks, passive index funds on top, the emotional difficulty of retiring, cultivate your core pursuit ASAP, financial nihilists living for today, appealing your property taxes, paying top dollar for vacation subscriptions, & frustrating phone repairs.

And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money. Have an awesome weekend!

Best friends out!

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The CDC definition of a parasite is: an organism that lives on or in a host and gets its food from or at the expense of its host. They’re not necessarily out there to completely destroy you- at least not immediately. Instead they want you to go on living your life, so that they can leach as much as they can while they get fat and happy, hopefully without you even noticing. And that’s exactly how we feel about crappy financial products except they’re not feasting on your blood, they’re feasting on your dollars. Their ability to thrive comes at your expense and it’s abundantly clear that these crappy financial products don’t have your best interest in mind. So today we’re going to run through a number of the worst culprits out there, why they’re the worst, and then what you can do in order to make sure that you avoid getting fleeced.

During this episode we enjoyed a Wrigley Fields Forever by Good Word Brewing! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!

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It’s time to get your financial butt in shape! Our guest today, Ericka Young, is the financial coach that she never had! As a newlywed couple, Ericka and her husband discovered that it’s actually pretty easy to become just like the average US household that now has over $150,000 in debt. It’s the norm and if you don’t have a plan to avoid debt, you will likely find yourself falling into that trap! But that’s not the path that Ericka continued along- she was determined to change her family tree, and now helps others who are seeking financial freedom in their lives. Ericka started her company, Tailor-Made Budgets where she creates custom plans for her clients that give them the tools and the knowledge to cut their stress levels by increasing their savings and decreasing their debt. We get to hear Ericka’s debt story, how she was able to leave a high paying engineering job, signs that someone might need a financial coach, what it looks like to face your financial reality, how she helps her clients think through making trade-offs, and why friends may not be enough of an accountability partner.

During this episode we enjoyed a Where I Want To Be Deciduous Brewing! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!

Best friends out!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Time for our Friday Flight! These episodes are a sampling of the week’s financial news and the impact on your personal finances. There are a lot of headlines out there, but we distill it down to specific takeaways that will allow you to kick off the weekend informed and help you to continue to make smart money moves. In this episode we cover some relevant and helpful stories like: CapitalOne bonuses, free at home Covid tests, too busy to budget, waiving home inspections in a cooling housing market, secondhand financial smarts due to spillover effects, expensive airport beers, price profiteering, economists don’t blame corporate greed for higher inflation, crappy car repair loans, declining used car prices, & ESG BS!

And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money. Have an awesome weekend!

Best friends out!

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Everyone loves a good comeback story- exceeept when it’s the villain who is making the comeback! That's basically how we feel about the mullet. We can all pretty much agree that mullets are the most villainous hairstyle. It had its heyday back in the 80s and is now back in full-business-in-the-front-party-in-the-back-force. Similarly, that’s how we feel about consumer debt. Credit card debt levels drastically dropped with the onset of Covid lockdowns and for a minute we thought this might be the start of a personal finance reawakening! But unfortunately that was the exception rather than the norm. In February, American consumers increased their borrowing by a record $42 billion as credit card usage was up 20% in Q1 alone according to the major credit card companies. This is bad news of course, but there are strategic ways to use debt to your advantage. The types of debt you sign up for, what you’re spending it on, your debt to income ratio, and resisting the ‘immediacy premium’ are all elements of debt that we discuss today.

During this episode we enjoyed a Moderne Dansk by Jester King! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!

Best friends out!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re kicking off the week by answering listener questions! And if you have a question that you’d like for us to answer on the show, we’d love for you to submit your own via HowToMoney.com/ask , send us your voice memo. Regardless of how random or bizarre you might think it is, we want to hear it!

1 - My fiance wants to get into house hacking. How can I feel more comfortable with this risky endeavor?

2 - How should my student loans impact how I invest in my Roth?

3 - Fee-based financial advisors vs fee-only financial advisors?

4 - Should I go with a Kai-Zen life insurance plan and consider borrowing against a permanent life insurance plan?

5 - How can I best utilize a DCFSA in order to pay for baby expenses?

During this episode we enjoyed a No Wooden Shoes by Good Word! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!

Best friends out!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.