The Stacking Benjamins Show

Are you aggressively striving for your financial goals? Putting in the time to make your dreams come true? Are you sure you're NOT going to let anything stand in your way when it comes to securing a nice retirement and a fantastic nest egg? Here's a question: when are you working TOO hard toward your goal? How do you know when you've gotten TOO caught up in the rat race? On today's show, we sit with entrepreneur David Hauser, who's built and sold two successful businesses, but who also has been overworked, unhappy, and unhealthy. Early on, David was used to a 100+ hour week, a lifestyle of unhealthy eating, and not a lot of physical activity. After a 10 year journey of self improvement, David has found a work-life balance that not only satisfies his financial needs but his personal ones as well. As you'll hear in the interview, being all about the Benjamins doesn't necessarily mean you need to sacrifice the other important parts of your life.Plus, in our headlines segment, how much do you spend on subscriptions? Today Joe talks to Andy Kerns from Digital Third Coast. Partnering with Waterstone to conduct the study, Andy's team looked into the relationship that America has with subscription services. Is it destroying your bottom line? We'll also dive into a piece on how the new crop of financial planners are trained... should more financial firms be looking at a residency program?Later on we'll throw out the Haven Life Line to Roxanna, who's only partially vested in a 401k at her old workplace. Could she have problems getting her cash down the road? On the letter's side of things, Tearar wants to get some ETFs in her workplace's SIMPLE IRA, but is getting pushback. What's the deal?As always, we'll still save some time for Doug's (completely epic) trivia.Thanks to Molekule for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Get $75 off your first order at Molekule.com with our promo code: SB.Thanks to Grammarly for supporting Stacking Benjamins. For 20% off a Grammarly premium account, go to Grammarly.com/sb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

401k? Roth? Dollar cost averaging? Market timing? Target-date funds? Choosing to take responsibility for your financial well-being is often a difficult choice, and it's not made any easier by the long list of jargon that comes attached to being money savvy. That's why on today's show we're breaking down all the words and definitions that'll have you scratching your head as you try to get your budget and retirement plan on the right track. Joining our awesome panel of contributors today (alongside our very own OG, and Paula Pant from Afford Anything) is Nate Abercrombie, from the Investing with the Buyside podcast.Halfway through the show, we'll take a small break from our discussion for our Friday Fintech segment. On today's segment, Joe sits down for a call with Parker Graham from the Destiny App. Do you want to pay off your debt faster (of course you do!), but also get the small wins from the debt snowball method? We'll explore how the Destiny App is setting out to give you the best of both worlds on today's Fintech.Plus, we'll throw out the Haven Life Line to Kristen. Kristen and her husband are high-income earners but are putting two kids through college. They're also carrying a mortgage and a car loan... with no retirement savings. Where should Kristen and her spouse put their focus as they realign their priorities?As always, we'll still save some time for Doug's (completely epic) trivia.Go to Airbnb.com/SB and start hosting. You’ll receive a $100 Amazon Gift Card if you generate $500 in booking value by May 30. Terms and conditions apply.Thanks to the Murder Book Podcast for Supporting Stacking Benjamins. Go to MurderBookPodcast.com to listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Should you take on debt to buy real estate? Does the stock market really return as much as we're told it after a life of saving and investing? And on the topic of stocks... how should a portfolio be split up between small, large and foreign stocks? That's just a sneak peak of the broad range of question and answers we're discussing on today's jam-packed letters episode.During our headlines segment, OG is sharing his thoughts on Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway letter to investors. Plus, we're calling 1(800)Accountant CEO Mike Savage. What's the deal with this year's tax refunds... or lack thereof?After some unusually fantastic trivia by Doug, we'll throw out the Haven Life Line to Luke, who is getting his master's degree this fall. With his tuition covered, plus a stipend of $1400 a month, should he try to max out his Roth IRA before school starts, or should he save the amount of $6000?As always, we'll still save some time for Doug's (completely epic) trivia.Thanks to the Murder Book Podcast for supporting StackingBenjamins. Check out Michael Connelly's new Murder Book podcast wherever you get your podcasts, or at MurderBookPodcast.com.Go to Airbnb.com/sb and start hosting you’ll receive a $100 Amazon Gift Card if you generate $500 in booking value by May 30. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether you've never purchased a home before or just don't know much about the process, we've got a treat for you today. We're going to dive into everything mortgages 101 today, like PMI, the negotiability of fees, and the lie that everyone quoting rates is telling (those rates "might not be what you think they'd be.") On today's show we welcome the guy who's teaching us everything millennials need to know about mortgages, Jeff VanNote.During our headlines segment, we'll start with one piece detailing how Americans would spend a life-changing sum of money. Do you know how you would spend yours? In our second headline, we talk to head of retirement research from Carson Wealth, professor Jamie Hopkins. Could you be on the hook for your parents' long term care? Plus, in a special third headline, one Florida man received a $980,000 tax refund. Before you start asking how you can cash in as he did, you'll want to find out the rest of that story.Later on, we'll field a Haven Life Line call from Michael, who has $5,000 in savings. He's put in about $500 into Acorns so far to start investing, but should he be doing more? And in our letter segment, Allen tells us how he's been socking away $100 per month since his daughter has been born. She's going off to college in a couple of years, and Allen wants to keep socking away $100 for her in a Roth IRA once she graduates. Where's the best place to start the account?As always, we'll still save some time for Doug's (completely epic) trivia.Thanks to MagnifyMoney.com for sponsoring Stacking Benjamins. MagnifyMoney.com saves users on average $450 when they compare, ditch, switch and save on credit cards, student loan refinancing, checking, savings and more. Check out MagnifyMoney.com for your savings.Thanks to LinkedIn for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Go to LinkedIn.com/sb and get a $50 credit toward your first job post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What should be the number one priority on your retirement planning list? That answer is going to be different for everyone, and on this roundtable episode our contributors gave their take on one list's "most' urgent items.You can find the original show notes from 2016 below: What are the most important moves to make in retirement? Harlan Landes (Adulting.tv, Plutus Foundation) joins Paula (AffordAnything) and Len (LenPenzodotcom) to tackle a recent Wisebread piece that claims to give us the MOST urgent items on your retirement planning list. Does our panel agree? You'll find out on today's show. Also, we mull over real estate home improvements (where do you get the most bang for your hard-earned dollar?) AND dream about what we'd do if we could get unlimited points/miles. Heck, even ChiChi's gets a mention on today's show. You know it's going to be a wild one when we're talking ChiChi's.In our FinTech segment we talk to Jamie Wise from Buzz Indexes(BUZ) about their index and ETF. Hedge fund managers have been following the wisdom of social media crowds...now Jamie and his firm are bringing the same technology to the average investor.Thanks to MagnifyMoneyand SoFi for sponsoring our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When's the last time you gave you financial life a good inspection? It's been a bit since we talked about having a good look at our financial processes and routines, so the Fintern decided to spin up Joe's interview with Today Show Money Editor Jean Chatzky. Back in 2017 Joe talked to Jean about why people should get a financial "check up." We still think that's a great idea in 2019.Here are the original show notes from 2017: If anyone knows the heartbeat of personal finance, it's Today Show Money Editor Jean Chatzky. On today's podcast, Jean joins us in the basement to talk about your financial engine. How well is it running? She's teamed up with Dr. Michael Roizen to talk about how to age-proof your life. We'll have LOTS of tips and resources today.In our headline segment, we talk annuities. Our arch-enemy Meg forwarded us a nefarious piece about annuities that clearly displays what some annuity salespeople are thinking--they just want your cash. Plus, we throw out the Haven Life line and also save time for Doug's trivia.Special thanks to SoFi and Magnify Money for sponsoring our show! We couldn't do any of this without the support of these awesome companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We haven't talked about market timing at all on the show lately, so the Fintern thought it was about time to reach back in the archives and find an old episode on the topic.This eshow is from a Wednesday back before we changed our format. OG sounds like he's in a tin can, to a degree, but if you can get through that, the show itself is a really great collection of letters from you.Here's the original show notes from 2015:Today the star of the show is YOU! You ask us about market timing, diversification and risk…and we deliver the goods.Plus PK is back in the basement to argue with Joe about emergency funds. When is it the right time to save into your emergency fund? Is it best to save BEFORE you pay down debt or AFTER? PK says AFTER and Joe says BEFORE….you’ll hear the epic debate on today’s show!As if that weren’t enough, today’s headline is about China’s recent move to regulate their stock market volatility. Is that good or bad for investors? We also review the film Focus with Will Smith and Margo Robbie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's easy to find financial advice on the internet. But finding GOOD financial advice? You'll find that's a bit more difficult. With so many money "gurus" pushing their sage wisdom, how do you sort through all the noise and find the truth? We'll discuss where the "truth" lies today, with some help from our contributors: Chelsea Brannon from Smart Money Mamas, Len Penzo from LenPenzo.com, and OG from this podcast. Today we're tackling money, (bad) advice, and lies!Halfway through the show we'll take a break to talk to Eric Redline, creator of kid-focused money management app, NuMoola. Next we'll answer a Magnify Money call from Scott, who wants to buy a home sooner rather than later. The catch? He doesn't have 20% to put down as a downpayment. Should he charge forward anyway?And don't you worry, we'll save some time for Doug's trivia.Thanks to Grammarly for supporting Stacking Benjamins. For 20% off a Grammarly premium account, go to Grammarly.com/sb.Thanks Audible! Get Power Moves by Adam Grant for free when you sign up for a free Audible trial at Audible.com/sbpower or text sbpower to 500 500. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we'll throw out our regular playbook to focus on what's really important: your burning financial questions! From Ginny, who wants to become interested in finance (plus a husband who has a BIG man-crush on OG), to Craig and his wife who just inherited a big sum of money....and to Chris wants to know if he should use his savings to pay off his car note before his wedding, we made you and your questions our BIGGEST focus today.BUT, that's not all... we still managed to tackle two big headlines. Making ripples across the financial sector, one ex financial adviser has been sent to prison for seven years after stealing $300,000 from a 97 year old. How do you avoid that mess? We'll show you where this situation went off the rails. Plus, in our second headline, a series of mistakes has the Omaha Public School' pension fund scrambling after a $771 million shortfall. Headlines like these don't exactly inspire trust in the financial industry, so we'll share our big ideas on saving for retirement without walking into a mess like this.A letters episode doesn't mean we're skipping out on the Haven Life Line! Jared is at a critical point with his financial advisor, who hasn't had the best returns in the past couple of years. Is it time for Jared to give his advisor the boot? We can't make the decision for him... but we can tell him our thoughts.As always, we'll still save some time for Doug's (completely epic) trivia.Thanks to LinkedIn for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Go to LinkedIn.com/sb and get a $50 credit toward your first job post.Thanks to Grammarly for supporting Stacking Benjamins. For 20% off a Grammarly premium account, go to Grammarly.com/sb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nearly everyone has had a "great" business idea. However, as mom says, "the devil is in the details," and great businesses aren't built on ideas, they're built on successful implementation and follow through. To help you set up either your next side gig or start your next big venture, we're excited to talk to Maria Aspan, Editor at Large for Inc. Magazine. She'll discuss where to look for financing, the importance of a business plan (is it really important?), how to ask family for money, when to include venture capitalists, and more. She'll also share some fantastic success stories from people who've already accomplished what many of our listeners want to learn.Plus in our headlines segment millennial money expert Stephanie O'Connell stops by the basement to discuss the new layaway alternative, Afterpay. Here's how it works: pick out what you want today and pay for it later. Does that sound somewhat like a credit card? Stephanie breaks it all down during our interview. And in our second headline, Cardi B is speaking out against people who are taking jabs at her spending habits. She says she's spending over $300,000 per month and can't lower her bills any more. What's her reasoning? We'll jump into her personal financial issues and talk about responsibilities during our second headline.And in our Haven Life Line, Dustin has his investments for his son's college in the market. With college quickly approaching, where should Dustin be moving his money? Then we'll take a letter from Chris, who wants more information on the rule of thumb many of us have heard, of having a certain threshold of money saved by different ages.As always, we'll still save some time for Doug's (completely epic) trivia.Thanks to MagnifyMoney.com for sponsoring Stacking Benjamins. MagnifyMoney.com saves users on average $450 when they compare, ditch, switch and save on credit cards, student loan refinancing, checking, savings and more. Check out MagnifyMoney.com for your savings.Thanks to LinkedIn for supporting Stacking Benjamins. Go to LinkedIn.com/sb and get a $50 credit toward your first job post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices