Radical Personal Finance

Today, I welcome Doug Nordman back to the show! Doug is an early retiree (he retired at 41) and his hobby is helping other military personnel improve their financial lives.

One of the more interesting aspects of Doug's financial life is his involvement in private business as an angel investor. He's not only involved with the community of investors near him in Hawaii, he's also committed a substantial amount of his savings toward his investments.

In this interview you'll learn:

• Why Doug invests his money in private companies even though the majority of his investments are held in mutual funds.
• How much money he has made and how many of his investments have gone bust!
• How to get involved as an angel investor yourself!

You'll also learn how to make the decision of rent vs. buy when considering where to live.

Enjoy!

Joshua

Links:

• Doug's finance website: http://the-military-guide.com/
• Doug's book recommendations:
  • The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths that Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By by Scott Shane
  • Angel Investing: Matching Startup Funds with Startup Companies--The Guide for Entrepreneurs and Individual Investors by Robert Robinson and Mark Van Osnabrugge
  • Fool's Gold?: The Truth Behind Angel Investing in America by Scott Shane
• Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron
• Support Radical Personal Finance by using our Amazon affiliate link: http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/amazon

Many people would like to earn more money. But, few people know how to actually look at their situation to assess their opportunities to actually do so.

In today's show I share with you the framework that I use to think about money. It's simple but effective.

And, most importantly, it's exclusively focused on the things you can actually do and change. It's practical and immediately actionable.

Listen to the show to hear:

• The only three variables that affect how much money you earn in a free market economy.
• Which variables have the most impact in the short term and which have the most impact in the long term.
• How to assess your personal situation to decide where to focus your efforts.

Enjoy!

Joshua

Links:

• Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron
• Consider attending FinCon15! Buy your tickets here! http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/fincon

Hey amigos!

Today is my 30th birthday! I'm having an incredible day celebrating with my family and friends.30 is a big milestone for me. I've been reflecting deeply on the last decade and looking forward to the next decade.I thought about creating a "30 Lessons Learned from 30 Years of Living" for you, but I decided to simply share one of my favorite messages with you instead.

This audio is a short clip from a Jim Rohn speech. I keep it on my desktop and listen to it at least a couple of times per week.

This is the succinct message that I would like to share with you to celebrate my birthday.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Talk soon,

Joshua

• Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon: http://patreon.com/radicalpersonalfinance

Hey Radicals!

Just a quick announcement episode to share that the show will be taking a quick summer break for a few days. I have some show-related work to handle and I can't get it done and still continue producing content this week.

Also, please expect the shows to be slighly more sporadic during the month of June...details in the audio!

Joshua

• Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon: http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron
• Get your tickets for FinCon15 with my affiliate link here: http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/fincon
• Details on the FinCon Expro are here: http://finconexpo.com/

Q&A today and I handle these four questions!

1. Does tax-loss harvesting really offer the kind of benefit that companies like Wealthfront, Betterment, Personal Capital, et al claim? And can a person do it on their own without relying on a firm to do it for them?
2. Thought you should know something I recently found out. California child labor laws no longer apply once you have graduated from high school. In addition, California has a method to graduate by exam (similar to a GED, but GEDs are only available to those 18 or older). The high school proficiency exam (which is easy) can be taken by anyone who is 16 or older or who has completed 10th grade or will have completed 10th grade by the end of the academic year in which they take the test. My son, who is 15 1/2 and in 10th grade, took the exam and passed it. Nothing prevents him from continuing on in high school, but he's no longer subject to child labor laws. He's seriously considering switching to community college in September, doing that for 2 years, and then transferring to a University of California campus to finish off his college. That'd get him a solid college degree by the time he's 19. During that entire time, he'd be eligible to work whatever hours he wants. Another option we're considering is self-study (with my help; I used to be a Computer Science professor), taking a bunch of AP exams, and then entering UC at age 18 with at least one year (and possibly more) of credits.
3. Joshua, Can you weigh in on your thought about being an accredited investor and the legal limitations around it? As I understand it, I do not qualify as an accredited investor. And certain investments cannot be invested in by those who are not accredited. however, apparently the rules were supposed to have changed to allow people to make investments of these kinds without the government saying that I have to make X amount or have X amounts of savings. but, as I learned by listening to the podcast Startup (episode 7) by alex blumberg, these rules have changed with the JOBS ACT, but the FCC has been sitting on the ruling and is way overdue for implementing it so that someone like me can invest in these previously off limits investments without being told that we can't. That episode of startup really explained a lot to me, because I had wanted to invest a large amount with alex after listening to the very first episode of startup (i assumed he would be very successful because I've loved his stuff for years and he's leveraging some seriously big friends for his new venture), but I couldn't invest in something I really thought was going to be a huge success (or at least provide me with good cashflow) because of these rules. I'm also about curious why these rules exist. Were they implimented to protect people from being scammed out of their money?
4. Joshua, As a young engineer, who is single, making a salary of over $80,000 in Texas (no state income tax): Should I max out my 401k if my goal is to become very wealthy, before age 40? Or, should I invest some in my 401k and invest the rest in REITs/other, more risky assets. Of course, along the way, I will be very frugal, and live way below my means. Thank you, love the show.

Enjoy the show!

Joshua

• Evaluating The Tax Deferral And Tax Bracket Arbitrage Benefits Of Tax Loss Harvesting by Michael Kitces: https://www.kitces.com/blog/evaluating-the-tax-deferral-and-tax-bracket-arbitrage-benefits-of-tax-loss-harvesting/
• Wealthfront Tax-Loss Harvesting White Paper: https://research.wealthfront.com/whitepapers/tax-loss-harvesting/#14-comparison_of_daily_vs_one_time_i_e_end_of_year_tax_loss_harvesting
• Betterment's White Paper: Tax Loss Harvesting+™: https://www.betterment.com/resources/research/tax-loss-harvesting-white-paper/
• The Tax Harvesting Mirage by Michael Edesess: http://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters14/The_Tax_Harvesting_Mirage.php
• The Tax Harvesting Oasis: A Response to Michael Edesess by Daniel Egan and Boris Khentov: http://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters14/The_Tax_Harvesting_Oasis.php
• The Tax Harvesting Water Hole by Michael Edesess: http://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters14/The_Tax_Harvesting_Water_Hole.php
• Accredited Investor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accredited_investor
• Fixed Fortunes Article: http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2014/11/17/fixed-fortunes-biggest-corporate-political-interests-spend-billions-get-trillions/
• Why the "Accredited Investor" Standard Fails the Average Investor: http://www.bu.edu/rbfl/files/2013/09/AccreditedInvestorStandardFails.pdf
• Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

Q&A today and I handle these four questions!

Enjoy the show!

Joshua

One of my goals for Radical Personal Finance is to bring more transparency to the world of professional finance. Today, I'm glad to shine the light on the life insurance industry.

I've invited a friend of mine onto the show to discuss his 30-year career as a life insurance broker.

Todd Simpson CLU®, ChFC® is a veteran of the life insurance business. His specialty is high-risk underwriting, so he brings not only a long career's worth of experience but also a unique perspective to the difficult-to-place cases.

I think you'll really enjoy this conversation. We cover:

• The incredible changes that have occurred in life insurance product design over the last 30 years.
• The most common medical problems that cause problems with life insurance underwriting.
• The impact of drugs and drug use on your ability to get a life insurance policy.
• And more!

Enjoy the show,

Joshua

• Todd's firm and website: http://www.thestammagency.com/
• Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

Many of find ourselves in a situation where we are concerned about the financial well-being of our parents. Obviously, we'd like to help, if possible.

But, this is rarely easy. There are many, many challenges that can emerge. In essence, to truly answer these questions you'd not only have to have all of the skills of a financial planner, but also the background of a relationship counselor, a life coach, and more!

It ain't easy!

I created this show as an overview of ideas that may be able to help you get involved and to help your parents. Some of the ideas are technical financial suggestions, others are more practical and relationship-oriented.

The show is structured around:

1. Ideas to help create a great life of good health.
2. Ideas to help in case of the need for long-term care.
3. Ideas to help plan your parents' estate to make the estate settlement process smoother.

I hope it's useful to you!

Joshua

• Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

My guest today is a author named Matthew Bracken. Matthew is a sailor, writer, and former Navy Seal. He's the author of four novels (all of which I've thoroughly enjoyed.)

Most importantly for our purposes, he is an expert on the topic of achieving a lifestyle of freedom through sailing.

He wrote an excellent essay called "Get Yourself a 30-Footer and Go!" which advocates a quick entry into the sailing world as a way to build economic opportunity for yourself.

During the course of the interview, we cover three primary topics:

1. How to go about getting started in sailing and how quickly it's possible to achieve a lifestyle of freedom.
2. Matt's experience establishing himself as an independent, self-published novelist in the semi-dystopian genre.
3. The potential impact of societal changes and how to prepare for them.

Enjoy the show!

Joshua

Links:

• Get Yourself a 30-Footer and Go! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3095240/posts
• Information about Matt's novels: http://www.enemiesforeignanddomestic.com/index.php?page=books
• Huge Excerpts (free) from Matt's novels: http://www.enemiesforeignanddomestic.com/index.php?page=excerpts
• The Last Valley on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-dItSpmQtlE
• Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

My guest today is a author named Matthew Bracken. Matthew is a sailor, writer, and former Navy Seal. He's the author of four novels (all of which I've thoroughly enjoyed.)

Most importantly for our purposes, he is an expert on the topic of achieving a lifestyle of freedom through sailing.

He wrote an excellent essay called "Get Yourself a 30-Footer and Go!" which advocates a quick entry into the sailing world as a way to build economic opportunity for yourself.

During the course of the interview, we cover three primary topics:

Enjoy the show!

Joshua

Links: