The Stacking Benjamins Show

Happy Birthday to our namesake Benjamin Franklin!! Today we'll celebrate by talking about one of our favorite topics, leaving your 9-5 job early. To help us, we welcome the woman behind the new EconoMe Conference, Diania Merriam, Len Penzo from Len Penzo dot com, and the wonderful OG from our very own podcast! This piece, written by Jessica Garbarino for her Every Single Dollar blog, is titled Why I Walked Away from a Six-Figure Job, and goes over some very good reasons to leave a "good" job AND many of the strategies she used to ensure she wouldn't have to return. (Big thanks to Mindy Jensen from BiggerPockets Money for reading it today as well!) Frustrated with your money management skills? Don't feel like you have enough of a handle on your monthly expenses? At the halfway mark of today's episode, we'll hear from Belinda Rosenblum and Joe, as they unveil the exciting new course offered by the Stacking Benjamins team, Making Money Easy. We'll walk through all of the details today. It's been a long time since we've had a Stacking Benjamins course, so we're thrilled to tell you about it today. And finally, during our MagnifyMoney segment we will answer a question from Reddit.com on whether or not a man is in the wrong for not wanting "free" childcare from his mother-in-law. Where do you stand? Is he on the right side of this argument? As always, of course we'll quiz our contributors with an epic gameshow question about Ben Franklin from our neighbor, Doug. We'll have all that and more on today's show! Hope you can join the fun! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Your retirement options just became more robust. A new law called The SECURE Act passed late last year and today we're sharing ALL of the information you need to know to change your plan to take advantage of this new, exciting legislation. If this is new to you, don't worry, we've got you covered. We'll begin the show with Joe & OG bringing you up to speed on the details. But if you're wondering how to use it well, we have something even better. Joining us on today's show we'll have Aimee Kwain from Fidelity Investments, Dan Keady from TIAA, and the Retirement Answer Man himself, Roger Whitney to walk us through their thoughts about the new law. Our goal today is to help you to understand how the SECURE Act impacts you, and we're excited about all you're about to learn. Of course, this is a Stacking Benjamins episode, so that isn't all....later we'll throw out the Haven Life Line to Leo, who is wondering what he should do with his money while he's saving up for a downpayment on a house. Should he invest, or keep the money safe in a high-yield savings account? Hoping for more? We've gotcha covererd. We'll also save some time for Doug's amazing weight loss trivia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you frustrated that your average day doesn't start out chasing your goals but instead reacting to everything else going on? Between kids, spouse or friends, and co-workers, how are you supposed to get ahead on YOUR agenda? Good news, today we chat with Romi Neustadt, the bestselling author of You Can Have It All...just not at the same damned time! We'll have an amazing conversation focusing on how to REALLY set goals that stick (hint: you don't start with goal setting), how to keep your priorities in line, and the key to focus like a laser on the things that are most important if you want to get everything possible out of life. Plus, during our headlines, we'll examine some financial horror stories that very well could happen to you. Have you had some big changes in your life and haven't gotten around to updating your beneficiaries? While this may seem like something you can wait on, we're fairly certain today's ugly stories of people who put it off will make you jump on it sooner rather than later. Then, in our second piece, we're taking a broader view on "rules of thumb." Everyone considers the 10,000 steps a day mantra as a hard fact, but experts say there's a better goal you should have in mind. Being the savvy people we are (no eye-rolls please), we'll make some parallels to when people go wrong with financial rules of thumb. During our Have Life Line segment we'll answer a question from Richard, who can't get happy hour off his mind. With plenty of birthdays he feels obligated to attend in the next couple of months, how should Richard balance out budgeting and social obligations? And of course, we'll always save some time for Doug's trivia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What money moves are you planning for 2019? From creating an emergency fund and increasing your 401k contributions, to downsizing and starting a side hustle, there are plenty of smart financial steps you can take to make this year your best one yet. Joining our roundtable discussion about your best money moves today, we welcome Paula Pant from Afford Anything and OG from our very own podcast.Halfway through the roundtable we'll take a break for our Friday Fintech segment and talk to David Chang from Gradifi. Gradifi is setting out to give employers an easy system to help employees pay down student loans and fund 529 plans.We'll also answer a MagnifyMoney.com question from Zach, who's interested in the FIRE movement. Should he be following the advice of the FIRE movement and forgo his Roth account in favor of using a traditional?And of course, we'll still have time for Doug's trivia.Thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring the show. Start your two months of unlimited access to Skillshare by visiting SkillShare.com/SB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For many of us, "charity begins at home" is our constant refrain. But you have to admit, it feels good to give and to be a part of a community. Not only are you helping those around you, but you're also working together with your family or friends on a higher purpose. That's why we're thrilled today to talk with our friends, Scott Maderer from Inspired Stewardship, our good friend Paula Pant from the Afford Anything podcast, and the wonderful OG from our very own podcast about how they give! We'll share a piece from Marriage, Kids, and Money's Andy Hill about how he teaches his kids to give and get LOTS of great ideas from the team. Plus, at the halfway mark of today's episode we'll hear from Saul Cohen from Round during our Friday FinTech segment. Round helps investors find exclusive investment opportunities so they can invest actively like the 1%. How does it work? Saul will walk us through Round's mission and how they work with investors. And during our Magnify Money call we'll hear from our good friend Mollie, who wonders about gifts to nephews and nieces. How does she solve the giving problem? As always, of course we'll quiz our contributors with an epic gameshow question by our neighbor, Doug. All that and more on today's show! Hope you can join the fun! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What goals do you want to achieve? It's easier to reach any destination with the right people around you. To help YOU find your best route toward your goals, today we welcome Tim Rhode, author of Tribe of Millionaires, and founder of nonprofit 1 Life Fully Lived, to talk about building your network to reach your ultimate potential. Plus, during our headlines, we'll cover a piece from Bloomberg about how credit card debt has hit an 10-year high, and what that means to you. Spend too much money this last year? Maybe it's time to go back and listen to Monday's debt cleanse episode.... PLUS, how about fees that drive you crazy? We'll highlight a BIZARRE fee that a hotel in West Virginia charged. So random... Later we'll throw out the Haven Life Line to Anthony, who calls in to give the those of us in the basement some helpful advice about TSPs (Thrift Savings Plans) that you may have been unaware of. Thanks, Anthony! Of course, we'll save some time for Doug's possum-heavy trivia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wake up January 1 with a hangover? Even if you didn't "over-imbibe" on alcohol, there's another hangover people suffer from: excess spending. Let's make January a reset month if you overspent last year. As many financial gurus say, "Tomorrow is a new day" and you can decide that you want to grab the reins and control not just your debt but your money in general. Today we sit down with Brian Karimzad, CEO of Magnify Money, on all of the things you can do to make your debt cleanse a success. During our headlines portion of the show, we'll take a look at how the average 401k fared in 2019. Good, bad... great? If you didn't do well with your retirement plan last year, how do you make a change to improve in 2020? We'll share some ideas. Plus, during our second piece, we'll examine the reason popular financial company Vanguard just eliminated even MORE trading fees. That's not all, though! We'll throw out the Haven Life Line as well, and answer a voicemail from James who asks for investment advice. What do we think about James choosing top funds from different sectors to invest in? Is it a good strategy? Also, when he leaves the USA, what does he do with his retirement funds? And of course, we'll always save some time for Doug's trivia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Where is the market going to go in 2020? Who will win the election? What did we learn from the Magic 8 Ball predictions of 2019? We'll start by looking at ALL of our last year's predictions and discuss LOTS of financial planning themes. Between emerging markets, individual stocks, playing the lottery, and more, we'll cover a wide range of money topics that you (gasp) might learn from. Calling in today to help out is our good friend, Paula Pant from the Afford Anything podcast, plus Len Penzo from LenPenzo.com...and OG from our very own podcast! We'll take a break halfway through this monster podcast episode to talk to Ryan Falvey from Financial Venture Studio. What does the future hold for FinTech? Ryan has a front row seat for some of the hot new ideas coming out of this sector and will share some of the important themes you'll see coming to your phone, your computer, and your portfolio in the future. As always, we'll also help a listener Magnify their Money...but today we're joined by special guest Brian Karimzad. Because Carter has a question that's specific to MagnifyMoney, it's fantastic that Brian dropped by just in time to help us answer! It's a great, two-hour episode of Stacking Benjamins. Hope you can join the fun! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While everyone else fights over whether this year or next is the beginning of a new decade, we'll help you focus your attention on the REAL issue: how awesome you'll plan to be in 2020 and beyond. Bestselling author and TED speaker Neil Pasricha joins us today to tell us stories about his amazing mother's search for awesome, his own lessons from past failures, and best of all, the history of the ellipses. They're hopefully the inspiration you'll need to kick off the Roaring 20's with a bang. What are your New Year's Resolutions? We'll share some that were recently featured in a top publication during our first headline, plus some ideas from our team about how you can make them actionable (the most important part of any plan). Of course we'll save time to throw out the Haven Life Line AND save some time for Doug's incredible Roaring 20's trivia. We all hope you're as excited about a great New Year as we are here in the basement! Mom sends her love! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're ending 2019 with a fantastic look back at our interview with James Clear, author of Atomic Habits. One of the best thing you can do for yourself this next decade is building great habits and STICKING to them. Whether it's in your career, finances, relationships, or otherwise personal life, you'll find that developing great habits will be the best present you can give yourself moving forward. It's been a blast this past week, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Happy New Year! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices