The Stacking Benjamins Show

You may have financial security, but do you have financial wholeness? What's the difference? Tiffany "The Budgetnista" Aliche says that she felt more whole BEFORE she had financial independence than she did after. We'll talk about building a solid financial footing and understanding on today's show. Tiffany has led women worldwide in paying off millions of dollars in debt, co-hosts the Brown Ambition podcast, and now has multiple financial education books published, including a pre-education book for children. With a decade of teaching experience behind her - that's before she moved into financial education - Tiffany has used her experience to develop easy-to-follow, engaging financial education lessons.

Today we sit down with The Budgetnista for a wide-ranging interview including why you should strive for financial wholeness instead of financial freedom, how to present financial education so even children can grasp it, and her straightforward budgeting system.

A Case Study in Being Prepared

Model and Actress Brooke Shields had a horrific fall a few months ago that required her to undergo multiple surgeries. It's an accident she's still recovering from, and one she'll need to dedicate time and resources too. Here's the thing: Brook Shields (in all likelihood) can field the costs and loss of earnings in stride.

What would happen in your life after enduring the same experience Shields went through? Beyond the physical and emotional trauma, what type of shock test will your finances go through?

What vehicle gets the most mile for your buck?

Pushing mortgages and health costs to the side for a moment, vehicle purchases are among the most expensive reoccurring expenses you'll have in life. Operating inside of a budget, there isn't anything wrong with picking based on your aesthetic preferences.

However, at the very least, you should make informed decisions when any large amount of cash in on the table. We know cars depreciate in value the moment you drive off the lot, but which vehicles actually get you the most mileage for your cash over the long run? Joining us today with all the right answers, we welcome Karl Brauer from ISeeCars.com.

Getting Young Investors Started?

Sarah calls in asking the best way of setting up investment accounts for her two younger brothers, who are 16 and 20 years old. She knows her older brother could possibly setup a Roth IRA, but not sure what the best move is for her youngest brother. Sarah also asks about college financial aid implications. Thoughts?

Enjoy!

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Pros in every field will tell you that confidence is a huge part of earning more money. But what happens when life delivers blow after blow? We've been there ourselves, and so has our guest, Harma Hartouni, who moved to America with his family and was flat broke. Much of his story stems from a childhood relationship with a dad that was less than perfect (to put it mildly). While this is not a direct rags-to-riches story, things started to turn around for Harma, and he now runs one of the top real estate firms in Southern California, along with having a passion for sharing his life experiences for others to learn from. Today Harma shares his compelling story of perseverance, confidence, and learning lessons from horrible experiences instead of falling back on them as a crutch, like so many do.

Blackrock Cuts ETF Fees Cut to Near Zero

Lower fees... hooray! Right? The race to zero fees continues with BlackRock's latest move to drop ETF fees, which is the lastest blow in their fight for assets with Vanguard. While we aren't complaining about more money in your pocket, the slashed fees leave us with a lingering question: what exactly should investors want when it comes to their strategy? Beyond the latest flashy headline of the week, what's your framework for making investing decisions?

Top Mistakes People Make When Planning for Retirement

Have you made your portfolio more conservative to soothe your market volatility fears? Larry Swedroe recently shared some big retirement planning mistakes which could cost you millions of dollars in missed opportunity.

The Your Complete Guide to a Successful and Secure Retirement author (and previous Stacking Benjamins guest) brings some good points to the table, and Joe and OG share some math scary enough to make you think twice before slowing things down.

Not All Products Are Meant for You

We're mixing things up with today's Haven Life Line. Margaret saw a video online that's filled with mostly good advice, but sneaks in a "secure compound interest account" comment at the end of the clip. What's the deal?

Joe and OG share exactly what this account actually is, and give some frank advice for people who may be considering investing.

Enjoy!

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Have a difficult time separating good financial advice from the bad? Today our contributors tackle everything from budgeting and credit utilization myths, to discussions on trade schools and the rent vs mortgage debate. Joining us on today's round table is Lauryn Williams from the Worth Listening podcast, Paula Pant from the Afford Anything Podcast, and Len Penzo from the LenPenzo.com blog.

Friday Fintech: FarmTogether

After the constant reminders to diversify, you eventually decided to invest a portion of your portfolio into something like bonds, right? Ever consider farmland? Joining us from the FarmTogether investment platform, we welcome founder Artem Milinchuk to learn more about farmland investing.

Joe and Artem discuss how farmland's low correlation with the stock market provides better diversification, how advances in the farming industry align with ESG values, and how farmland can provide bond-like stable returns while still providing equity-level value.

Listener Voicemail: What Happens To Your Stocks When A Company Goes Private?

A company you own stocks of goes private, what happens now? Caller Liz recently found out that Michael's will become a private company after a sell. Liz asks: do they sell her shares at a specific time? Does she have a choice? Fortunately, Liz tells us this is her sandbox money - she doesn't need it, but she's still curious about the process.

As always, Doug has some post-fintech airtime to deliver his game-show trivia.

Enjoy!

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We thought women have been doctors for a long, long time. That's clearly not been the case, and also it's a path that's hard-won. If you were fans of the women in Hidden Figures, watch out, because today we're introducing you to three more trailblazers. In honor of Women's History month we invited Olivia Campbell, the author of the new book Women in White Coats, to share with us some fascinating (and sometimes horrifying) stories of the challenges these incredible women faced during their fight with the status quo. These women had limited funds, little to no support system, no government assistance, and they persevered in spite of it all.

Financial Advisor Alex Reffet

In our headlines segment, we'll go back again for another look to a year ago. How should a good financial advisor have encouraged you at the time when the sky was falling, and the market was experiencing its worst days in history? We'll talk to Alex Reffet from East Paces Group in Atlanta to get his perspective.

Tax Day Pushed Back...BUT With One Exception

Also, we'll share the news that you can procrastinate on all of your taxes...except one, for an extra month. We'll share some bad news for people with a state income tax AND also for people who own businesses. Of course, we'll also throw out the Haven Life Line to a lucky listener AND share Doug's amazing trivia. Enjoy!

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How many mistakes did YOU make buying your last home? Before you make another, Scott Trench and Mindy Jensen from Bigger Pockets Money join us to drop the knowledge you should know before making your next home purchase. They'll discuss the cost tradeoff you need to consider between renting and buying, the exit strategies you have to weigh before making any purchase, and detail how to set yourself up for a rock-solid home buying experience. Plus, you'll see how Mindy pocketed a $300k profit off her home renovations, tax-free.

Cryptocurrency illegal?

We'll start our headlines discussing India's possible banning of cryptocurrency. While nothing is yet set in stone, it's a good example of why it's important to keep your retirement funds diversified, no matter how lucrative one type of investment may appear. The only thing that's for certain is that if there's a way to make money off of it, you can bet Uncle Sam (or any government) is going to find a way to share in the pie.

2021 - The Year of the CFO

We'll start with a piece about a possible market crash (spoiler: yes, eventually), and quickly pivot to a discussion on how careful you need to be this year about growth statistics from companies. With the year that was 2020, it's no wonder companies are loud and proud about their expected growth in 2021. Don't get us wrong, we're excited about positive news, but as an investor, you can't only rely on fancy numbers.

What to do with all this money?

We'll finish the show with a call from Seth, who recently bought a home. After his monthly expenses and investing Seth has about $2,000 leftover each month in savings. With Seth's emergency fund already fully funded, he asks: should he allocate the extra cash to paying off his mortgage, or use the money to fund additional investments? We'll give Seth some advice that'll work for every raise he gets, expected or not.

Enjoy!

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Whether you are a parent, have parents, or find yourself at the Thanksgiving table sandwiched between generations, honest money conversations are crucial to your financial journey. Single investors with no kids need to know the late-life plans of their parents before they're surprised with care costs. Kids themselves need financial education and the best way to do that is by showing them firsthand. Parents, especially those supporting two generations, have all the more reason to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Joining us today to share the strategies and conversations inside of their own families, we welcome Pam Andrews from The Scholarship Shark; Doc G from the Earn & Invest podcast, and OG from our own Stacking Benjamins.

Friday Fintech: Ethical Investing with Seeds Investor

Remember 15 years ago (or even five) when investing in ESG's was considered principally an ethical move? While you could invest according to your morals people would tell you about the market returns you'd miss out on. That's not quite the case anymore, and now it's easier than ever to stick to your ethical considerations AND make money doing it. Joining us today from Seeds Investor to discuss the future of ethical investing and Seeds part in it all is COO & Head of Product Kristen O’Grady.

Our Listener Voicemail

Dan graduated from college last year and has been staying with his parents rent-free. He's since become a salaried worker, with a big raise and benefits to match. Dan tells us that he had been putting 15% of each paycheck into a savings and emergency fund. He has a few manageable bills right now and has been investing the rest. Dan asks: what are out thoughts on transferring the 15% savings rate to his investments instead? After all, he could maximize his investments while having low bills.

Enjoy!

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Today's show includes two fantastic guests: first Allison Baggerly, who not only paid off $100k on two teacher salaries but who also has become a ninja at budgets. She'll share tips from her Inspired Budget courses and website that you can use to begin setting up your own budget today. But that's not all! We also spoke with the host of Struggle Meals, Frankie Celenza, about how he's able to make great-tasting food for less money AND with less waste. He'll share tips about spices, salt, organizing your refrigerator, and more.

NOTE: On the live replay we experienced a few issues. We'll share one right at the top of the show (Doug's power went out immediately as we began--that stuff ONLY happens when you're live). We also realized while editing that you are hearing also Joe's channel, which includes links to backstage discussions. We've cleaned it up a ton and unfortunately, that meant cutting some discussions. Check out the YouTube video to see the entire show.

As always, you'll find show notes and links to Struggle Meals and Inspired Budget at our show notes page at Stacking Benjamins dot com.

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You calculate returns on your investments, but what's your ROI when you're actually being nice to people? It turns out, reams of data show that kindness pays, and today, America's Breakthrough Coach, Brian Biro joins us to talk about how to become a Chief Kindness Officer. While Brian's all about holding the door open for someone, the philosophy of kindness actually goes much deeper than that. Sometimes being kind means telling a worker, "Go figure this out on your own, then come back to me with your thoughts." It's a wide-ranging interview that we know you're going to enjoy.

Bad Idea of the Year: Investing Because A Celebrity Said So

The Securities and Exchange Commission has a new warning you'll want to know about. If you didn't know this already - you shouldn't invest in any company only because you heard something on the internet and the news. That includes Stacking Benjamins, Facebook, CNBC, Fox Business, and anyone else you want to throw on this list. That's not to say no one ever has good endorsements, but due diligence is always an action you should take before making big decisions with your money. We'll talk about celebrity endorsements and a new warning from the SEC during our headlines segment...

Have A Plan For That $1,400 Stimulus Check Coming In

And speaking of doing your due diligence, Suze Orman had a thing or two to say with how people might be spending this next stimulus check. Naturally, we had a thing or two to say about her thing - or rather Don McDonald has something to say. Making a flash appearance in the basement, the Talking Real Money host has some real takes on how you should use your stimulus check to score the biggest impact possible.

What's the deal with SPACs?

Good on Julien for today's Haven Life question! He's been hearing about special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) in the news and wants some clarification. Is this a new shady method for companies to avoid the paperwork that comes with an IPO? Are SPACs worth investing in? Joe and OG take Julien's question and go step-by-step on the differences between IPOs and SPACs.

Of course, we'll always leave some time for Doug's trivia.

Enjoy!

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Spend less than you earn, invest, Stack Benjamins, and retire to a beach for the rest of your life, (or insert personal retirement fantasy here). It sounds simple... right? As a set of guidelines, sure it's simple. BUT in reality, it's not so easy, and as studies have shown time and time again, doing your dream retirement activity (like golf) every day gets old very quickly. While money is obviously the most important component to any retirement, the "to-do" list doesn't stop there. Helping us fill in the blanks, and joining us for our round table today, we welcome CFP Dana Anspach from Sensible Money, Len Penzo from the LenPenzo.com blog, and our very own OG.

EverPlans: Introducing a company helping you plan for the worst.

After our contributors get their fill on retirement advice, Joe sits down with the founders of Everplans, a company designed to help you store key information in one place in case of the worst happening. During our Friday Fintech interview, company founders Abby Schneiderman and Adam Seifer explain why it's so important for your loved ones to have easy access to your important documents, and how quickly things can go wrong when your family can't access your information. They take a topic most of us would rather put off and share stories that are fun, insightful, and actionable. We're glad to shine some light on the importance of making sure your family is taken care of in case of the worst happening.

Should you hold onto bonds for a change to make money on the market?

As always, we finish today's show with a MagnifyMoney question. Scott tells us he's holding long-term Treasury bonds in his portfolio with the hope the bonds will jump in price when the stock market crashes. He would then use the profit to buy stocks while they're low. Scott asks: do long-term treasuries still spike in a near-zero interest rate environment, or does that only happen when rates are cut?

Of course, Doug gets airtime halfway through the episode for his game show, and he's in the holiday spirit today. You'll see what holiday season he means later... enjoy! 

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You've felt it. You're going over the side...and it's all crashing down. You'd better believe that Heather Chauvin has also felt it. She's both a leadership coach and host of the Mom Is In Control podcast, and today she joins us in the basement to share her personal story of leaving a job she hated, all while maxing out her credit cards to get her side business off the ground - and by the way....also while she was battling cancer.

While sitting down with Joe, Heather also shares how she stayed motivated and shifted her life priorities from taking care of others first, to taking care of herself first - and then others. Putting her own "mask" on first (talking airline warnings here) changed her life, and it'll do great things for you too.

In our first piece, we share lessons learned from rising lumber prices across the country. Much like how we love to wait until the day before a cold front to make necessary preparations, lumber runs on a "just in time" system. When an extra factor is thrown in the mix, it can throw the whole system in disarray until enough time has passed to course correct.

A financial plan made with margin for error runs close to the same fashion. The big issue? Late lumber impacts your backyard plans, a wrong financial plan messes with your retirement.

Joe and OG give their takeaways during our headlines.

Mortgage rates are going back up, better run out and capitalize on it while you can!... or maybe not. Giving us some clarity in what is surely resulting in plenty of scary headlines, Joe sits down with Kevin Parker of Navy Federal.

Kevin shares what you need to know BEFORE making any big money decisions, plus dishes out some sound financial knowledge that's helpful for anyone approaching loans and credit.

Waiting for us on the Haven Life Line is a question from Evan, who's looking for some feel-good news after 2020. He asks: what are our best personal and professional success stories? We're happy to share!

Of course, we'll always leave some time for Doug's trivia.

Enjoy!

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