The Worth Project Podcast

Danny Kofke is a special education teacher who really knows what he values....and puts his money where his mouth is. He's had the opportunity to earn triple his income but realized that he's truly content with Redbox and Subway date nights if that means he gets to spend more time with his family. Honestly, listening to Danny made Jordan and I feel even more at ease with financial and lifestyle decisions we've made.

In this episode Danny shares:

• How his family chose to live off a single income teacher's salary of $42k
• How having a financial margin in his life has made it possible to do things that matter to him, like caring for his father and publishing books
• What he learned from his upbringing to solidify his money habits
• His unique view on things like Christmas gifts that we'll be adopting (sorry, not sorry Henry)

We loved talking with Danny and how he's made the financial and other decisions in his life from a place of purpose. He's a reminder that you can love your life regardless of your salary.

Check out the show notes here:

http://theworthproject.co/2019/05/13/episode-12-creat…me-that-you-have/

Thanks for listening and please rate, review, and subscribe! We love the feedback.

When we left off at the end of episode 9, my student loan experience, I had just finished paying off six figures. But I had also just walked out of my job, post-panic attack. And I walked out with no job prospects. This was very unlike me.

I don't even know how, but Jordan was supportive. Most people in my situation would start applying for jobs. But we were in this weird place. We'd been in London for 1.5 years. We thought we'd be living here for 2ish years max, so I was in a weird place and I didn't know what to do.

Oh, and being a lady of leisure was not an option. I asked. So I decided it was time to go out and get some freelance work. There were just a couple of problems: I didn't know how to do that and I didn't know what I could offer. The important thing was to try something.

Takeaways:

• It just takes one client and then you're in business
• Start early, but it is never too late
• How to get outside your comfort zone
• Be ok with no's

Jordan shares our progress selling all of our stuff for our move to Hawaii, like his white tie suit. He shares what a white tie suit is any why no one needs one in their wardrobe.

Check out the show notes for pictures, references, and notes from the show: http://theworthproject.co/2019/05/07/how-i-got-my-fir…reelance-clients/

Thanks for listening! If you like our Worth Project journey, please share this podcast with friends so they can start their worth project too.

This week on the podcast we're talking with Shannon Lee Simmons about creating a shame-free, blame-free debt repayment plan so we can all live debt free.

Something's gotta go.

We fell in love with our pale aqua, retro, little car. But after answering our life planning questions we realized she wasn't our thing anymore. It was a tough decision but we are not looking back. Well, maybe a few more drives through the English countryside this spring. Check out the show notes for pictures!

This week is a bit of a related podcast to our show from last week, which was all about my student debt and the lessons we learned in paying it off. We talked about our experience, but it's really just one viewpoint. So, I figured it was a good idea to have someone with more debt experience on the show. Debt is one of the big hurdles that can keep you stuck in a negative mindset and it's a real struggle for anyone to figure out how to live a great life today, while you're still paying for something that happened in the past.

This week we're talking with Shannon Lee Simmons, a CFP and founder of The New School of Finance. She's the author of two books: Worry-Free Money and Living Debt Free. We wanted to have her on because her approach to debt is so realistic. She doesn't want to punish you for past mistakes and she doesn't think that you have to give up everything you love to get out of debt. Her approach is balanced and fun (kind of like her personality).

In this episode, you'll hear

• How Shannon started her financial planning company by bartering her services with over 300 women.
• How to stop the shame spiral that comes with debt
• The major reasons that land people into debt and it's really not what we think.
• Why sometimes paying off your zero interest debt first, rather than the high-interest debt, may actually be a good idea.
• How you can pay off your debt without taking extreme measures depriving yourself of the things you love.
• It's ok to live your life while still paying off debt.

Check out the show notes for pictures and links!

http://theworthproject.co/2019/04/29/a-shame-free-bla…approach-to-debt/

You can find Shannon Lee Simmons at The New School of Finance

http://www.shannonleesimmons.com/

This week on the show we're talking about my student loans. We'll give you strategies to pay them off in full, but more importantly, we talk about how to find balance and not let those loans drive you crazy. And we're also talking about what it's like to get married when you're financially out of balance, something that's not talked about enough.

When thinking about what we were going to discuss this week on student loan debt, Jordan was like "I don't remember having any issues with your loans." That's not true. There was a lot of tension, talking, long walks, etc. But we made it through unscathed and apparently so well that he doesn't remember.

This podcast is not an "I paid off this much in this long" story. Because that's not what I want someone to take away from this. Yes, I paid it off. There were some things we did really well and some things, frankly, were tough lessons. Especially in learning to handle such a financially imbalanced relationship.

We discuss the six lessons we learned paying off my graduate school student loan debt in full. We hope they may help give you some insight, ideas, and, most of all, hope that you will pay them off early.

Check out the show notes for pictures and details.

http://theworthproject.co/2019/04/22/lessons-from-pay…tudent-loan-debt/

Thank you for listening. Please rate, review, and keep subscribing!

We have Bela and Spencer of the blog Tiny Migrations on the show this week. When I first found their blog, I was immediately drawn in. They live in the most beautiful, idyllic tiny home I've ever seen tucked in the Santa Cruz mountains.

But aside for the beautiful design, what sucked me in was their lifestyle choices. Guys, they look at life as a big, beautiful experiment and it is so inspiring.

Their story starts just like so many stories: stuck in a city paying a lot in rent. But rather than staying in that story, they changed.

Before a trip to Spain, they sold their belongings and moved out of their rental home. Then, they Airbnb-ed, house-sat, and rented a home short term while expecting their baby to be born. AND THEN - and this is where I was totally blown away - they used their parental leave to rent an apartment in Mexico. With a newborn! What an amazing experience.

Then, when they moved back to the Bay Area they decided that rather than get stuck with an expensive 30-year mortgage, they wanted to do something different. They built a gorgeous tiny home and are dreaming up even bigger and better things.

They have so much energy and positivity. They didn't like the options in front of them so they embraced lifestyle experiments to live differently.

In this episode you'll learn:

• How they begin to think up these different solutions - different ways to live life
• How they figure out and agree on their goals
• The very thoughtful way they think through risks - their stress test method. We're going to adopt this one.

Check out their website and other show notes here:

http://theworthproject.co/2019/04/16/episode-8-how-to…style-experiment/

Thanks for listening! Please rate, review, and subscribe so we can improve our podcasting street cred to entice more amazing people to interview. Your reviews help us improve the show as we like to listen to money stories as much as we like to chat about money stories.

Four years ago one of the first articles I was asked to write was about money mindset. And let me tell you, I gave it one big old eye roll.

Honestly, I thought money mindset was a joke. A sham. If there wasn't real data and studies on it, it must not exist.

To me, money was just numbers. You save, you invest, and eventually, you retire. The numbers work and that's all there is to it.

Guys, I was wrong.

I have done a full 180 - we both have - with our money mindset. This is such a hard one to talk about because it's not concrete. There are no numbers. There's nothing to say that we're right or wrong or will change our mindset in the future.

And funny enough, we don't talk about this with any of our friends. We talk about it a lot with each other.

We've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. But we want to put this out there in case anyone is starting to think about their money mindset and how that relates to how they manage their money. And the things they do in life.

We discuss the following five shifts.

• Shift #1: Those are old stories
• Shift #2: You don't have to save to spend
• Shift #3: What's with all this stuff?
• • "The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it," - Henry David Thoreau
• Shift #4: Think in terms of opportunities
• Shift #5: Money can buy you freedom
• • We are not talking about FIRE (financial freedom, retire early)

Check out the show notes for pictures and details from the show!

http://theworthproject.co/2019/04/09/our-money-mindset-shifts/

Thanks for listening! Please rate, review, and subscribe so we can improve our podcasting street cred to entice more amazing people to interview. This request isn't for our own vanity (kinda) but to persuade Oprah to come on the show.

Not sure if you're in the right career? Or do you feel pretty certain that you're on the wrong career track, but you don't know how to change? Well, then stick around.

How many people feel disengaged or uninspired or downright unhappy with their career choice? A lot. A 2017 Gallup survey found that 70% of Americans hate their job or are completely disengaged at work. 70%. Oh my.

If you fall into that 70%, or if you feel like maybe you're not on the right career track, this is going to be the episode for you. How much you enjoy your career can directly impact how much you earn and how much you actually enjoy your life. It's hard to live a good life if you hate what you're doing 40+ hours out of the week.

This week we have the founder of Work Bigger, Belma Mccaffrey, on with us. Belma created Work Bigger to help you do work you love and make a difference in the world.

Belma left us feeling so inspired to share her story. We cover

• Why it's a human need to make the most of your life and your career.
• How Belma channeled her own frustrations with her career to create Work Bigger (and how she pushed past the fear)
• What you can start doing today if you're burnt out or unhappy in your job, but you don't know what step to take next

If you're feeling a little lost in your career and like you're not reaching your full potential, keep listening to hear how to change that.

You can connect with Belma at https://www.workbigger.co/

Today on The Worth Project we're getting really honest about our money. We're talking about what we've done with our money in the past to get us to this point, our biggest money mistakes, and some of the changes we're making going forward. Some of these mistakes are very cringeworthy (like that time Jordan called a loan shark…) and some of the new habits or defaults we've created that are really helpful.

We talk about the cash money and we also talk about our money mindsets, which we've worked really hard to improve over the past few years.

We're having an off the cuff discussion and sharing our money history, including:

• The best things we've done with our money over the past 13 years to get us to this point
• Our worst money mistakes, which we kind of hate admitting
• What we've changed about our money recently, including hor our mindset has changed

We share these things for two reasons. First, to help give you some idea about what has worked for us when it comes to money because maybe some of it will work for you too.

But we're also sharing this to let you know that we make mistakes too. A lot of them. And while we wish we could have a few do-overs, talking about these mistakes helps us learn from them, and we hope you'll learn from them too.

Thanks for listening! Please rate, review, and subscribe.

Have you ever said, "How is it Christmas already?" Or "How is that kid I babysat already in college?"

Part of living a great life is living a life that you remember. We can all get sucked into the grind of day-to-day life causing us to watch the weeks slip by. Our guest today gives us tips to actually create a life we remember. She helps people spend more time on things that matter and less time on things that don't.

Today we're speaking with Laura Vanderkam who is the author of several time management and productivity books, including Off the Clock, I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune. She is the co-host, with Sarah Hart-Unger, of the podcast Best of Both Worlds. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and four children, and blogs at LauraVanderkam.com.

She also spoke at Ted Women, which is how I found her work. And in full disclosure, I'm truly a big fan of Laura's work and her books and I was a little overzealous in this interview. I may have talked a little too much and didn't let Jordan into the discussion at all. I'm still learning how this whole podcasting thing works.

Get ready to start living a life that you actually remember as Laura breaks down the small actions we can all take today to make some space in our hectic schedules, and stop feeling so busy.

Thanks for listening and please rank, review, and subscribe! We love the feedback.

Laura's blog - https://lauravanderkam.com/

Juliet's School of Possibilities by Laura Vanderkam with the cartoon I can't get enough of watching - https://lauravanderkam.com/books/juliets-school-of-possibilities/

This week on The Worth Project Podcast, we are talking about the most unique gift we have ever received, how we translated our life plan into a money plan. And our visit to a Michelin star pub. Yes, a local neighborhood pub with one of the most coveted restaurant awards in the world.

Sitting together on my parent's patio to make our budget was what got us moving on our life plan. Making our budget got us over our case of the "somedays." We over-share how we made our budget, our biggest expenses for moving to Hawaii and being self-employed, and the big money gap we discovered in the process.

A basic budget when planning a change in your life or vacation will give you a number to work towards. This makes it more real and actionable. Making our budget enabled us is to know our business income and savings gaps. Having these numbers gave us something to work towards, instead of procrastinating.

Pricing out your dreams and goals can make them more real. But also, make you realize it isn't as impossible as you thought.

We fully acknowledge that a podcast is not the ideal medium to have a couple describe how they made their budget. That's why we are providing a free download of the budget template we used. I love this budget template because it is so simple. Erica didn't overcomplicate the number of line item expenses. With your inputs, it spits out your money gap. If you have one.

Download your free budget template here: http://theworthproject.co/2019/03/12/curing-a-case-of-the-somedays/

We appreciate your feedback - please rate, review, and subscribe.