The Stacking Benjamins Show

Today our roundtable discussion focuses on one set of homeowners who successfully sold their house, but realized that they could've saved $60,000 if they had instead rented and never purchased the home in the first place. Is buying a home a waste of money? Did the couple make some big mistakes that we can all avoid? Did they use professionals wisely or make some bad decisions? Discussing this headline with us are three veterans of the financial blogging and podcasting community: Tom Drake from MapleMoney.com, Paula Pant from Afford Anything, and Len Penzo from LenPenzo.com

Halfway through the show, we'll take a break from our rent vs. homeownership discussion while Joe sits down with Jean Statler from the Alliance for Lifetime Income. The organization is working with MIT's AgeLab on an important issue: the risk that we might outlive our savings. Jean reviews the problems the public has had with annuities and dives into the discussion of what the industry is doing to clean up perceptions and simplify products. It's a very frank and enlightening conversation about an often maligned financial tool AND the issues surrounding living longer.

During our Magnify Money segment, we'll take a call from Kurt, who has a question about his workplace tuition reimbursement. If Kurt doesn't stay with his employer for three years he owes back all of the cash his company gave him for school expenses. Right now he has the amount sitting in a savings account, what should he do with it? Should he invest it? Pay down debt? Leave it in savings? Our team bounces around several possibilities.

Thanks to Grammarly for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Get 20% off a Grammarly premium account, go to Grammarly.com/sb.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today our roundtable discussion focuses on one set of homeowners who successfully sold their house, but realized that they could've saved $60,000 if they had instead rented and never purchased the home in the first place. Is buying a home a waste of money? Did the couple make some big mistakes that we can all avoid? Did they use professionals wisely or make some bad decisions? Discussing this headline with us are three veterans of the financial blogging and podcasting community: Tom Drake from MapleMoney.com, Paula Pant from Afford Anything, and Len Penzo from LenPenzo.com

Halfway through the show, we'll take a break from our rent vs. homeownership discussion while Joe sits down with Jean Statler from the Alliance for Lifetime Income. The organization is working with MIT's AgeLab on an important issue: the risk that we might outlive our savings. Jean reviews the problems the public has had with annuities and dives into the discussion of what the industry is doing to clean up perceptions and simplify products. It's a very frank and enlightening conversation about an often maligned financial tool AND the issues surrounding living longer.

During our Magnify Money segment, we'll take a call from Kurt, who has a question about his workplace tuition reimbursement. If Kurt doesn't stay with his employer for three years he owes back all of the cash his company gave him for school expenses. Right now he has the amount sitting in a savings account, what should he do with it? Should he invest it? Pay down debt? Leave it in savings? Our team bounces around several possibilities.

Thanks to Grammarly for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Get 20% off a Grammarly premium account, go to Grammarly.com/sb.

Who wouldn't want to be one of the Grateful Dead (love the play on the rock band name, don't you?)? Today we'll ask the question, "When's the last time you've thought about your estate plan... (if you've made one)?" Making a will or even a full trust may seem like a daunting task that's best done tomorrow, or the day after that, but we all know that it's an important piece of your financial life that shouldn't be overlooked. To help us understand the ins-and-outs of estate planning in the most fun way possible (and MAN is it fun...), we've invited down the woman who literally wrote the book on it: Carol Weisman, author of Becoming One of the Grateful Dead.

In our headlines segment, we're getting a little political today with our first piece. With the election cycle revving up, some politicians have been talking about paying for different campaign promises by enacting a tax on some financial transactions. Is there cause to be worried about the bigger retirement picture if more taxes are thrown in the mix? After we've had our fill of politics, we'll stick around the stock market as we discuss our second piece: a robo-run ETF has been making a splash by beating the overall stock market.

Later, we'll throw out the Haven Life Line to Ian, who has now realized the mutual fund he picked has higher fees than he would like. He's down 11% right now, but should he hold onto his fund knowing about the high fees?

A big thanks to Student Loan Hero for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Find out how you can pay for college AND compare different interest rates before locking into a loan at StudentLoanHero.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Who wouldn't want to be one of the Grateful Dead (love the play on the rock band name, don't you?)? Today we'll ask the question, "When's the last time you've thought about your estate plan... (if you've made one)?" Making a will or even a full trust may seem like a daunting task that's best done tomorrow, or the day after that, but we all know that it's an important piece of your financial life that shouldn't be overlooked. To help us understand the ins-and-outs of estate planning in the most fun way possible (and MAN is it fun...), we've invited down the woman who literally wrote the book on it: Carol Weisman, author of Becoming One of the Grateful Dead.

In our headlines segment, we're getting a little political today with our first piece. With the election cycle revving up, some politicians have been talking about paying for different campaign promises by enacting a tax on some financial transactions. Is there cause to be worried about the bigger retirement picture if more taxes are thrown in the mix? After we've had our fill of politics, we'll stick around the stock market as we discuss our second piece: a robo-run ETF has been making a splash by beating the overall stock market.

Later, we'll throw out the Haven Life Line to Ian, who has now realized the mutual fund he picked has higher fees than he would like. He's down 11% right now, but should he hold onto his fund knowing about the high fees?

A big thanks to Student Loan Hero for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Find out how you can pay for college AND compare different interest rates before locking into a loan at StudentLoanHero.com

While we all love talking financial independence, side hustles, and paying off huge amounts of debt, another topic doesn't get enough attention, mostly because it's difficult. We don't pay nearly enough attention to the biggest threat facing any retirement: long-term care. What happens if you have a catastrophic illness and can't take care of yourself? Nursing homes are expensive, home care is expensive, and asking loved ones to take care of you can be horrible for their health and wellbeing also. Today we'll talk to Shawn Britt from Nationwide Insurance, who as a long time professional in this field, knows the statistics and the horror stories, but also the common sense approaches to many illness-related problems. We'll talk planning, the good/bad/and ugly of long term care policies, but mostly about maintaining flexibility and options as a result of making informed decisions before life makes those decisions for you.

In our headlines segment, the Fed is unrolling a plan to create a faster money transfer system. We'll discuss what could be the end of the three day wait for money transfers between many institutions, and, of course, what that means to you. Plus, in our second piece, a Swedish online payments company has been valued at $5.5 billion - making it Europe's biggest FinTech start-up ever. Also? It's backed by Snoop Dogg! The firm, Klarna, purchases products from companies on behalf of the consumer and bills customers over time. Is this a dream come true or a recipe for disaster? We'll cover the implications, good and bad, during our headlines segment.

We'll finish out the show by throwing out the Haven Life Line to Jason, who has a totally serious question about investing everything he has into a glide path. Currently Jason is 100% investing into the Vanguard total bond fund. Here's the issue: the expense ratio is 0.15%, while the Schwab total bond fund is .014%. It makes sense to move his money over, but that could cause him to incur a $32 tax hit. What's Jason to do in a dilemma like this? Don't worry, we'll give him some advice straight from the heart.

Thanks to Grammarly for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Get 20% off a Grammarly premium account, go to Grammarly.com/sb.

Thanks to AcreTrader for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Learn more at AcreTrader.com/sb.

While we all love talking financial independence, side hustles, and paying off huge amounts of debt, another topic doesn't get enough attention, mostly because it's difficult. We don't pay nearly enough attention to the biggest threat facing any retirement: long-term care. What happens if you have a catastrophic illness and can't take care of yourself? Nursing homes are expensive, home care is expensive, and asking loved ones to take care of you can be horrible for their health and wellbeing also. Today we'll talk to Shawn Britt from Nationwide Insurance, who as a long time professional in this field, knows the statistics and the horror stories, but also the common sense approaches to many illness-related problems. We'll talk planning, the good/bad/and ugly of long term care policies, but mostly about maintaining flexibility and options as a result of making informed decisions before life makes those decisions for you.

In our headlines segment, the Fed is unrolling a plan to create a faster money transfer system. We'll discuss what could be the end of the three day wait for money transfers between many institutions, and, of course, what that means to you. Plus, in our second piece, a Swedish online payments company has been valued at $5.5 billion - making it Europe's biggest FinTech start-up ever. Also? It's backed by Snoop Dogg! The firm, Klarna, purchases products from companies on behalf of the consumer and bills customers over time. Is this a dream come true or a recipe for disaster? We'll cover the implications, good and bad, during our headlines segment.

We'll finish out the show by throwing out the Haven Life Line to Jason, who has a totally serious question about investing everything he has into a glide path. Currently Jason is 100% investing into the Vanguard total bond fund. Here's the issue: the expense ratio is 0.15%, while the Schwab total bond fund is .014%. It makes sense to move his money over, but that could cause him to incur a $32 tax hit. What's Jason to do in a dilemma like this? Don't worry, we'll give him some advice straight from the heart.

Thanks to Grammarly for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Get 20% off a Grammarly premium account, go to Grammarly.com/sb.

Thanks to AcreTrader for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Learn more at AcreTrader.com/sb.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sick of working for "the man"? Today we'll talk to a woman who's never held down a single full time job but who's created a career out of what most people call "side hustles." We'll explore pitfalls, opportunities, and more with Shanah Bell, author of The Art of Being a Pita, Paula Pant from Afford Anything, and from our very own podcast, OG.

Halfway through the show we'll take a break from our side hustle conversation so Joe can sit down with Tony Aquilar, the founder of new student loans app Chipper. Worried about your student loans? Tony will share some helpful tips on how to pay down student loans quicker, AND will show off how his app will help you do just that.

...and after we take some time for Doug's trivia, our roundtable contributors will share some ideas to help caller TJ during our Magnify Money segment. TJ wants to know some fun and interesting ways to teach kids about money and saving for retirement. Thoughts?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sick of working for "the man"? Today we'll talk to a woman who's never held down a single full time job but who's created a career out of what most people call "side hustles." We'll explore pitfalls, opportunities, and more with Shanah Bell, author of The Art of Being a Pita, Paula Pant from Afford Anything, and from our very own podcast, OG.

Halfway through the show we'll take a break from our side hustle conversation so Joe can sit down with Tony Aquilar, the founder of new student loans app Chipper. Worried about your student loans? Tony will share some helpful tips on how to pay down student loans quicker, AND will show off how his app will help you do just that.

...and after we take some time for Doug's trivia, our roundtable contributors will share some ideas to help caller TJ during our Magnify Money segment. TJ wants to know some fun and interesting ways to teach kids about money and saving for retirement. Thoughts?

Ever wonder how an insurance company would look at some of your favorite movie and television series characters? We might be nerds (who are we kidding...we're huge nerds), but that's exactly the question we wanted to ask Haven Life's Brittney Burgett, who gives us some really enlightening answers. Not only do we find out information about how insurance companies view cartels, money laundering, and 1950's office spaces (all funny and not shocking), we also talk frankly about contestable periods, health ratings, professional considerations, and more. If you've ever wondered how insurance companies think about you, this is a fun way to start.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ever wonder how an insurance company would look at some of your favorite movie and television series characters? We might be nerds (who are we kidding...we're huge nerds), but that's exactly the question we wanted to ask Haven Life's Brittney Burgett, who gives us some really enlightening answers. Not only do we find out information about how insurance companies view cartels, money laundering, and 1950's office spaces (all funny and not shocking), we also talk frankly about contestable periods, health ratings, professional considerations, and more. If you've ever wondered how insurance companies think about you, this is a fun way to start.

In our headline segment, it turns out that millennials are changing the world, and because of that, maybe your portfolio as well. We'll discuss one list from Kiplinger about 9 things millennials are changing (whether we like it or not). Here's one example: buying a starter home? That's not happening now like it has for past generations. Plus, during our second headline, one poll from the National Association of Plan Advisors suggests that target date fund recommendations are staying steady on the advisor side...but audiences are still often confused about the difference in how many funds operate. We'll cover why target date funds continue to be a staple for many advisors AND discuss the rippling effects of millennial choices in the market during today's headline segment.

Then, after we take a break for Doug's combined movie and video game trivia, we'll throw out the Haven Life line to "Go Blue," who's wondering if he should move his account around to save on expense ratios.

And during our letters segment we'll say hello to attorney Leslie Tayne. Leslie has some fantastic knowledge on student loans, and she'll be helping the basement answer two letters today about distrust with the income based repayment plan and student loan forgiveness plan.