Oh My Dollar!

In a short episode recorded from a Hilton hotel closet in Orlando, Lillian shares some of her tips for traveling to conferences on the cheap – from flights, alternative accommodation, to using Instacart to get food delivered.

This Show is Brought to You by our Listeners

This show is supported by generous listeners like you through our patreon. This episode was underwritten by the Tamsen G Association, Warrior Queen, and Stephanie Powers. To learn more about ways to support Oh My Dollar! and get cool perks like exclusive livestreams and cat stickers, you can visit ohmydollar.com/support/

In this episode, I talk about:

Getting groceries delivered to your hotel to save on foodTravel hacking for fare dealsStaying at hostels or airbnbs instead of hotel roomsFinding a roommate for a conferenceMy super-pricey annual fee credit card and how it saves me money on travel expensesUsing public transit

For your pleasure, here is me crammed into the hotel closet recording this episode

“Don’t go back in the closet, Lillian!”

 Resources from the Show

Instacart food delivery– get food delivered to your hotelThe IRS Per Diem Website (search by location)Scott’s Cheap Flights – Cheap international flights mailing listThe Points Guy – one of the best places to dig into rewards credit cardsReddit.com/r/churning/ Advanced-Level travel hacking card research

Other Episodes You Might Like

New Year’s Resolutions & Picking a Rewards CardHow to quit your job and be freelance (Listener Questions)Money and Business as a Freelancer without “Selling Out”

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In a casual interview episode, I’m joined by Mike Merrill. Mike, or KMikeyM, has been doing one of the longest-running art project on capitalism as the world’s first publicly traded person, selling shares of himself to friends and strangers for 10 years. Shareholders then vote on his life decisions. Having just launched my own experiment in community-based capitalism with Oh My Dollar!’s patreon, I thought I should get his advice. We talk about how his personal self-image fluctuates based on his share price, eliminating his personal credit card debt, finding your own “personal rap video” version of wealth, and why everyone should set a dollar bill on fire in front of an audience at least once.

This Show is Brought to You by our Listeners

This show is supported by generous listeners like you through our patreon. This episode was underwritten by the Tamsen G Association and Surreptitious Huggermugger Foundation. To learn more about ways to support Oh My Dollar! and get cool perks like exclusive livestreams and cat stickers, you can visit ohmydollar.com/support/ 

About Mike Merrill, AKA KMikeyM

Mike Merrill is the world’s only publicly traded person, which means he sells shares in himself and allows the shareholders to vote on his life. He is obsessed with concepts and focuses less on practical details, leading to many half baked projects. He is currently “writing” a ghostwritten crowd-sourced fanfic about himself, lives in a cabin in Los Angeles, and had left technology to work in advertising.

Disclosure: I coached Mike through some personal debt and was paid in “shares” of him, so I’m a shareholder.

In this episode, we discuss:

Index Fund of People Is the whole stock market an art project?Should the cats that follow me on instagram get half votes on my haircut or double votes?Why money feels like wizardry and wealth is a spellHow Mike’s self-value has ended up correlating to his stock valueIf you’re an anxious person, putting your retirement portfolio on autopilotMike’s using the model of a stock market to represent a decision making engineDressing in Brooks Brothers (as the personal embodiment of capitalism) in hyper-casual PortlandHow this project has changed Mike’s relationship to money (and it’s not really necessarily positive)Your own personal rap video and what wealth really means to youWhy you should burn a $1 bill

Resources from this episode:

KmikeyM.com website – maybe you’d like to buy some stock!Alexa skill that says KmikeyM’s share price!Millionaire Next Door – a classic personal finance book, the largest survey ever conducted on the lifestyle of true millionaires (most clip coupons)Download your own “Things I want tracker”

Other episodes your might like

Curbing Impulse Purchases & Regrettable Spending– the original episode about the “Things I want Tracker”Budgeting Rule #1: You Do You– all about spending according to your own values (AKA “create your own rap video”)

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Does financial uncertainty make you more creative or does it break your creative muscles? Lillian and Will reflect on their plethora of jobs, and Lillian justifies her choice to take a full-time temp job and launch a patreon for the show. (By the way we launch a patreon. Check it out!) Listeners weigh in on if they do better creative work when financially strapped or financially secure. Oh My Dollar! has just launched a membership program on Patreon! If you’re interested in supporting the show and getting access to exclusive perks like livestreams and stickers, you can find out more at ohmydollar.com/support/

Become an Oh My Dollar! Underwriter

This show is supported by generous listeners like you through our Patreon. This episode was underwritten by Warrior Queen, the Tamsen G Association and Stephanie Powers. To learn more about ways to support Oh My Dollar! and get cool perks like exclusive livestreams and cat stickers, you can visit ohmydollar.com/support/ 

Resources mentioned in the show:

Lillian’s transit map of all her jobs

Other Episodes You might Find Relevant:

– Managing Variable Imcome for Perpetually Anxious

– The Art of Debt ft Cathy Byrd

– Financial Mothers in History + Making Money as a Creator ft Jason Porath

– Making a Living as a Performing Artist without Getting Famous

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Today’s guest is not to be missed. Cathy Byrd from Fresh Art International reinvented herself as an artistic nomad after she got laid off in her mid-50’s while in debt. She paid off all her debt a few months after unemployment, including short selling her house and despite being unemployed for 2.5 years, she emerged from unemployment with $22,000 in savings and a new career.

We talked about the relationship between art and debt, what emerging artists need to do become financially successful, Cathy’s own story of debt and recovery, and some of the unbelievable relationships between wealthy institutions and exploitations of artists. We also discuss the relative employability of art history degrees.

Reaching thousands of followers each week, the Fresh Art International podcast and radio show spotlight diversity in the world of art, design and film through conversations about creativity since 2011.

Fresh Art International’s artistic director Cathy Byrd is a globally engaged independent curator and arts journalist with more than 20 years of experience in the field. Her writing appears in the Miami Rail, Art Papers, Art in America and Sculpture magazine. With more than 200 episodes to-date, Byrd’s Fresh Art International podcast documents creative practices at the center and fringe of art scenes across six continents and the Caribbean Archipelago. Listen anywhere you go for podcasts.

Kelly realized that she is doing “real investing” (picking individual stocks) and want to move into index funds instead (which is still investing!) But she’s not sure exactly how to do it. So we walk through how to build an index fund portfolio.

Christina asks what she should do with extra money after she pays off her car note when she’s already finished her emergency fund and is contributing to a pension and 403B.

Resources mentioned in the show

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Did you wake up one day and realize you’re accidentally a business owner? When you are a freelancer, you are the business. Danny Schuman accidentally ended up being an entrepreneur, and he figured out how to sustain himself even with the so-called “Worst Business Model of the World”. He shares his tips for freelancers on staying sane as a business owner. We talk about how to build a network when you hate networking, how to not freak out when you don’t know when the next money is coming in, and how to make money in business without “selling out”.

He shares his super-easy tip for taking the emotional fear out of writing down a “fee” amount on a proposal without underselling himself.

[Apologies for the slightly less great audio quality on this episode – we believe the content is worth it!]

Other Episodes You Might Like As A Freelancer About Managing Money

How to Quit Your Job and Be Freelance – All the steps you should take if you are preparing to go freelance – from setting up retirement, budgeting for lean times, to choosing business bank accounts, and more!How to Budget on Variable Income – How to set up and budget when you’re a freelancer whose income isn’t the same every monthVariable Income for the Perpetually Anxious – I give some clear tips for handling budgeting when you’re a perpetually anxious human with variable freelancer income like me!How to Make Choices without Overanalyzing – We specifically talk about choosing a bank, including choosing a business checking account (which you should have if you’re a freelancer!)

 About Our Guest Danny Schuman

This is Danny Schuman, our excellent guest on freelancer business tips

Danny Schuman is a writer, marketer, and entrepreneur. He’s spent his career creating ideas to solve marketing challenges.

He started his marketing consultancy Twist in January 2009 in the middle of the worst recession in the past 75 years, the first indication that he didn’t really know what he’s doing.

Despite that, he’s spent the past 10 years helping big and small brands develop successful brand strategies, focusing their message, and bringing that message to the right people.

Before Twist, Danny wrote and creative directed marketing campaigns that helped build iconic brands like Quaker Oatmeal, Coors Light, and Gatorade. He and Michael Jordan started working on Gatorade on the same day. Michael called Danny “Peanut Butter Jelly Boy,” but that’s a story for another time.

His book The Worst Business Model in the World: A New Kind of Guide for a New Kind of Entrepreneur is available on Amazon!

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Maddie asks how to pick a bank from all the different options: credit union, online bank, local bank, multi-national – how do you choose?!

Choosing a bank is hard!

Some things to consider:

How often you need to deposit cash or checks too large for an ATMHours of the bankBanking fees for holding accountMinimum balance requiredOther account requirements (direct deposit or debit transactions)Your politics (would your rather have a bank or credit union?) – check out this list of political donations by banksHow good the app or online access is (does it make your eyes bleed?)If they have credit builder cardsIf you want manual underwriting for a mortgageIf you get free checks with the accountSign up bonuses!

Some banks we mentioned (no referral links below, just information!)

USAA (online only bank for military and immediate family)Ally Bank (online bank with high yield checking accounts)Simple (online bank with budgeting tools built in)My local Portland credit union with free business checking accountsChase bank sign up bonuses (currently $200 or $300) via NerdwalletAutomatic savings accounts from Acorns and StashCredit builder cards (google “credit build credit union” and your state’s name!)I print all my checks at home directly from Word. It streamlines a lot of processes for me! If you want to print your own checks, here’s check paper!

As always, please write in with any show questions to questions @ ohmydollar (dot) com – and let us know if you don’t use a bank or how you chose the one you have now!

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Lillian goes on a calm rant about the common refrain that you simply need to work on your “money mindset” to improve your financial outcome…while also talking about the value of it.

We’re a big fan of this episode’s sponsor, Haven Life. If you’re interested in getting financial peace of mind for your family for an affordable price, get a quote at welcome.havenlife.com/omd

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Lillian and Will walk through the basics of the home office deduction – and how things have changed under the new tax plan for 2018! You don’t need to have an LLC or own your home to take the home office deduction, but there are some things you need to know!

We’re a big fan of this episode’s sponsor, Haven Life. If you’re interested in getting financial peace of mind for your family for an affordable price, get a quote at welcome.havenlife.com/omd

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Jessica asks if she should buy a house or keep renting in her cheap apartment longer, and more listeners share their experiences with homeownership.

Episode Links:

My favorite calculator to determine your monthly mortgage paymentThe NYtimes Rent Vs Buy CalculatorThe Get Your Money Together Giveaway including a Passion Planner, RescueTime Pro for a year, and a cat bowtie: ohmydollar.com/giveaway/Welcome to our new sponsor, Haven Life Insurance Company. If you’ve been putting off getting life insurance, it’s an excellent time to get a quote quickly online – and you help out Oh My Dollar! too! Check it out here: https://welcome.havenlife.com/omd

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