Earn & Invest

Edelman Intelligence recently conducted a research study for Upwork, a freelance-jobs platform in Santa Clara, Calif. It surveyed 6,000 working freelancers and employees between June 15 and July 7 of 2020. And they found that among other things: 59 million U.S. workers performed freelance work in the past 12 months, an increase of 2 million people year over year. The composition of the freelance workforce is getting younger, as 50 percent of Generation Z , 44 percent of Millennials, 30 percent of Generation X , and 26 percent of Baby Boomers freelanced at some point in the past year. The top two occupations for new freelancers are in technology and finance/business operations. 96 percent of new freelancers say they will do more freelancing in the future. 58 percent of workers who are not freelancers and are new to remote work due to the pandemic are now considering freelancing in the future. Although we didn’t need a pandemic and social distancing to prove the importance that freelancing plays in our current economy, 2020 has brought to light much about this often talked of mechanism for making a living. Platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork have created a thriving digital and remote freelance environment in which many are either making a full time living or at least fulfilling their side hustle needs.The question remains….Is this the wave of the future or just a fad? And more importantly, can you really make a living doing full time freelance?In 2015, Alexandra Fasulo (aka the freelance fairy) quit her lofty NYC public relations job after working for just 4-weeks. She had no plan, no money, and no idea what would come next. She just knew she couldn’t work for a company any more.What she soon realized is that quitting that job was the best thing she could ever do. It thrust her into the world of freelancing on Fiverr.com, where she is a 6-figure freelance writer, and freelancing personality on podcasts, talk shows, and blogs around the world.In this broad ranging interview, we talk about how she stumbled into freelancing, the types of jobs she has found most lucrative, and address some of the hate she has received from going public with her success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one knows when the financial independence retire early or FIRE movement actually started. Some say it was with the publication of Vicki Robins book Your Money Or Your Life in 1992. Others point to Jacob Lund-Fisker's blog Early retirement Extreme in 2010 or the advent of Mr. Money Mustache in 2011. Either way, mainstream media discovered the movement in 2018 and the community and philosophy have grown quite a bit in just the last three years. Or have they? Today on Earn and Invest we ask a simple question. Has the FIRE Movement evolved? Our panelists for the most part discovered financial independence in the early 2000’s and have collectively reached millions of listeners and readers.JL Collins is widely known as the Godfather of the financial independence movement and wrote the ever popular and best selling book The simple path to wealth. He blogs at jlcollinsnh where his stock series has been credited as one of the best resources for new investors. Brad Barrett is a recovering certified public accountant as well as the calm and cool voice of arguably the most listened to fire podcast out there, ChooseFI. And Jillian Johnsrud paid off all our debt, traveled to 27 counties, lived abroad for 4 years, and took 5 mini-retirements, all while bringing up 6 kids. She is a progress coach and the host and creator of the Everyday Courage Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest today, Dan Chan, is an internationally renowned, award-winning magician & mind-reader. In 2016 Buzzfeed profiled Dan with an article titled “Meet Silicon Valley's Favorite Magician.” Since then, Dan has performed for many of the world's largest corporations worldwide. In November of 2020, he was featured in Business Insider as the Billionaires magician.His client list reads like a who's who of Silicon valley including Google, Apple. Facebook, intel, and oracle. But magic wasn’t always at the forefront of Dan’s career. Before he was a full-time magician, he was a pre-IPO employee at PayPal where he crossed paths with the likes of Elon Musk and many of the soon to be founders of Silicon Valleys most promising start ups. He had only vested 13 months of his stock options when he decided to give up the remaining 3/4 to pursue performing magic full time. Since then he has performed over 5000 plus shows for many of the most recognizable companies in the world. Dan has an insatiable drive to become what he calls “legendary” which has spurred him into many money making and experiential adventures including working in Michelin rated restaurants, and, of all things, day trading.In the first part of the interview we discuss his career trajectory, what he has learned from performing magic for high flying tech companies, and his pivot to creating in a virtual world.The conversation continues in the after show where we unexpectedly dive into a controversial conversation of what it means to have “enough” and when he will be content with his career goals. Don’t forget to listen to the very end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MIT (Sloan)$237,636UCLA (Anderson)$220,112Michigan (Ross)$193,720UC-Berkeley (Haas)$203,068Dartmouth (Tuck)$230,080 These are the 2019 estimated total costs of completing a masters of business administration at the above noted institutions. As expensive as this sounds, an MBA continues to be a reliable magnifier of salary potential. According to a 2018 survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council, 2016 and 2017 grads saw their post-MBA salaries rise by a median of $40,000. Among respondents surveyed, 82% agreed that B-school increased their earning power.But is it worth it? While no one would argue that the next CEO of a billion dollar multinational company is well served by these two expensive years of education, the grand majority of us have much less lofty aspirations.Maybe we want to start our own small business venture. Create a product or render a service. Free ourselves from the constraints of employment and control our own destinies. Live the great American dream. What sort of education will serve us best?When Alan Donegan went to a traditional business support service To get help with his business idea the experience was so off putting that he almost gave up. Alan’s three-page letter of complaint landed on the desk of Simon Paine who met Alan for coffee for what was to become the beginning of a movement to democratise entrepreneurship. What Simon predicted was to be the worst meeting of the year turned out to be the best meeting of the decade as they swapped ideas, knowledge and opportunities.Simon had been coaching grassroots start-ups in disadvantaged communities across the south-east and knew that business plans didn’t help anyone. Alan knew that the only way to know if a business idea was going to work was to sell. They decided right then and there to work together to provide a solution.And Thus, the Rebel Business School was born  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It has been more than a year since the pandemic put the housing market briefly on pause for several months last spring. But real estate bounced back rather quickly. For more than 12 months now, low mortgage rates and the popularity of virtual work ignited by the pandemic have fueled a rapid increase in housing demand — espicially in lower-density suburbs. Despite uncertain economic times, there has been a booming residential housing market.More existing homes were sold in 2020 than in any year since 2006. Many seasoned veterans are curious to know how long will this boom last or will it eventually come crashing down like in 2008? So far, the housing market continues to be sizzling hot resulting in higher home prices and bidding wars for newly listed residences. The Federal Reserve is playing a key role to support the economy and housing market by keeping borrowing costs low for shorter-term loans.Amongst this chaos is the new home buyer. Less interested in the historic market and more excited to take their very first plunge into homeownership, the challenges to secure the right home, at the right price, in the right location is as daunting as ever.Scott Trench is the CEO and President of BiggerPockets. He has dedicated his career to helping ordinary Americans build wealth in part through real estate investing. Since joining BiggerPockets in 2014, Scott has authored the bestselling wealth-building book Set for Life and joined Mindy Jensen as co-host of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast.Mindy Jensen has been buying and selling houses for almost 20 years, both as an investor and as a real estate agent. She LOVES real estate and is most passionate about taking an outdated house and turning it into a beautiful, modern home. Mindy is the Community Manager for BiggerPockets.com, and the co-host of The BiggerPockets Money Podcast.Scott and Mindy’s book First Time Homebuyer: The Complete Playbook to Avoiding Rookie Mistakes hit the shelves last month.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are 2 billion mothers in the world today of which 85.4 million of them are in the U.S.. 4.3 babies are born each second. Notably, A sizable minority of children in rich countries live with just one parent — a parent who is likely to be female, and also likely to be working. Speak to virtually any successful human being, and they will likely credit at least some of their good fortune to their mother’s tutelage. I was one of the sizeable minority of children who grew up with just one parent. When I was eight years old, my father died suddenly of a cerebral aneurysm leaving behind his wife and three young children. My mother, at the time a house wife and formerly trained as a chemist, fortuitously was 6 months from graduating from a prestigious business school and quickly secured a position at a big corporate accounting firm. By my own recollections, my childhood was lacking in nothing.  Logically, I know that after my father died that times were tough. But, those early memories of my mother as a stay at home mom and then widow were quickly replaced by those of the accountant, landlord, investor, and entrepreneur that she became. And somewhere during all the tumult and turmoil of childhood, she managed to pass on to us children a sense of security and values that continue to guide us in our journeys today as husbands, fathers, and financially successful adults. Today I introduce you to my mother Harriet. She graduated college from the university of Michigan and eventually earned a masters degree in organic chemistry. After marrying my father, she left her PhD program to follow him to Thailand after he was drafted into the the Vietnam war and she taught highschool at the international school of Bangkock. She was a few months away from finishing her MBA at the Kellog School of Business when my father unexpectedly died. Left with three children and no immediate source of income she moved effortlessly to corporate America on the path to eventually running a business of her own. Furthermore, she became a savvy stock market investor, landlord, and successful entrepreneur. She also taught me almost everything of value that I know. Today I invite my mother on the show to discuss growing up with immigrant parents, her early money lessons, career, and the joys of grandparenting. Happy Mother’s day….today on Earn & Invest   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There was a time when investing was considered the domain of money and concerns of societal good and politics often inhabited very different spaces in our mind. Sure, ESG (environmental, societal, and governance) investments have been around for decades but the choices available and the general performance was poor. They hadn’t really gained much traction until recently.Enter 2021. The proliferation of ESG funds which have outperformed the market run by large and respectable brokerage firms has expanded greatly. The pandemic, associated recession, and social turmoil are upon us. And a new generation of millennial and gen z investors are coming of age who value not just the returns your money can make, but the good your money can do.In this broad ranging interview Eva Yazhari and I discuss her new book, The Good Your Money Can Do: Becoming a Conscious Investor. We talk about what types of asset allocations have the most impact, ESG investing, and how to be intentional not only with your money but also with your actions.Plus, I continue the conversation with Joe Saul-Sehy of The Stacking Benjamin’s Podcast on ESG investing with a clip from our live recording on Fireside.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back, today on Earn & Invest we discuss life after retirement. Search Amazon or any best seller list and you’re likely to find a number of books regarding the financials behind leaving the workplace. In fact, Americans are retiring in their mid-sixties and can look forward to enjoying as much as a three decades outside the structured work force. Up to now, affordability has been at the forefront of the conversation.With their new book, Retiring:Your Next Chapter is About Much More Than Money, Former senator Ted Kaufman and Business consultant Bruce Hiland draw our attention to an oft forgotten aspect about the ending of our formal careers.  Ted Kaufman is the former U.S. Senator from Delaware succeeding Senator Joseph Biden. Ted was Biden’s Chief of Staff for nineteen years and led his presidential transition planning in 2020. He taught at Duke Law School for twenty-six years.Bruce Hiland’s career included working for global consulting firm McKinsey, more than four years as Chief Administrative Officer at Time Inc., twenty years of independent consulting, and four startups.When Bruce and Ted both reached retirement, they realized that instead of slowing down, people are leaving their jobs feeling ready to take on the world. They’re financially independent, active, and capable.... And then, suddenly, they have nothing to do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on Earn and Invest we talk about the American dream. With the current social upheaval and call for not only equality but equity, there is much talk of what it takes to be successful in our country in a post pandemic world. The gap between the rich and poor is ever growing, yet there are still those who come to this country in search of the American dream. With little but the clothes on their backs and the nourishment in their bellies, they claw their way out of abject poverty and build a life of wealth and abundance. In this far ranging interview, we discuss with Carlos Reyes the trials and tribulations surrounding his journey onto American soil, How poverty became his so called “x Factor”, and how to bring up successful kids in the absence of adversity.Carlos Reyes was smuggled twice into the US and abandoned when he was a boy to escape severe poverty and abuse. He created a door-to-door sales business at age 5 and applied the lessons he learned from surviving the streets to create 27 companies in multiple industries including medical, solar, software, education and real estate with 7 of his businesses grossing millions of dollars a year.Today he’s on a mission to liberate and heal others from their own limited beliefs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can a documentarian teach you about selling yourself and the role of money in your life? Find out from Travis Shakespeare, Robyn Symon, and Adam Carroll as they discuss the making of their films and documentary making in general. Plus a community segment about taxing dividends.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices