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Here’s the best tip for surviving a bear attack: play dead. It will be good practice for when you’re actually dead a few seconds later. OK, maybe we aren’t talking about this kind of bear attack, but seriously…get some mace! We mean the kind of attack that happens when the stock market is down. The important thing when it comes to anything bear-related…do not panic. So, what is a bear market? A bear market is simply a period in time in which stock market prices are falling. Simple as that. A bear market is a time when most investors panic and run for dear lives like the cunning wolf above. But bear markets aren’t for panicking. In fact, there is a lot of opportunity in bear markets. As the famous investor Peter Lynch once said, You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don’t understand that’s going to happen, then you’re not ready, you won’t do well in the markets. So, if you’re unsure of what is a bull vs. bear market, this article will help clear up the difference. Are we current

It’s Halloween and nothing is more frightening than money horror stories. Close the blinds, turn off the lights, light a candle and prepare to be scared. Matt and Andrew haven’t always been smart with money, well Andrew mostly has. But even they have finance horror stories and will share them with us. In 2007 everything Andrew touched turned to gold. He read in that secret magazine for high rollers, Forbes, that a housing company was basically printing money. In 2007. A housing company. He lost between $2-3000. Matt’s first foray into the market was Sirius. Tanked, even Howard Stern couldn’t right the ship. He also incurred over $200 in overdraft fees through various drunken misadventures. Matt got the lifetime ban hammer from ING because he may or may not have called a phone rep’s mother a very nasty word. In a McDonald’s parking lot adding to the horror. Andrew lost $450 because he forgot to sign a complicated form that was otherwise perfectly filled out. Matt cashed out a 401K incurring all the penalties t

Do you have lots of loose change hanging around?  Or ever find a tenner in a coat pocket?  Find out how to turn small change into big money. If you live in a building with coin operated laundry, you can skip this episode.  We know where your change is going.  But for those of us with the cool chipped laundry cards, we need something more constructive than keeping it in big coffee tins. We at LMM advocate using credit cards whenever possible so long as they are fully paid off each month but sometimes you have to use cash.  Where can you find money?  Always look down.  Things rarely fall up.  I found $12 in the street a few weeks ago.  And don’t turn your nose up at pennies.  Money is money.  Check your car, always seems to be some change there.  When you go to someone’s house, check their couch cushions!  (No don’t really do that). It takes awhile for found money to add up so where can you keep it in the mean time.  Coffee tin isn’t a good place long term but it’s the classic solution when you’re saving it

Author Farnoosh Torabi joins us to discuss how to navigate a relationship in which the woman earns more than her male partner. Farnoosh Torabi is a personal finance writer, best selling author and television personality.  We were blown away by her presentation at FinCon and are very excited to have her on the podcast. We know that it shouldn’t matter who makes more in a relationship but it often does.  It can be especially tricky for men to accept when their female partner out earns them.  And it’s hard for women too.  Not only are they the bread winner, but many still feel responsible for the more traditional female responsibilities as well. It can cause resentment on both sides.  Men may feel like the woman is usurping their role and the women may wonder, “What do I even need you for?  I make the money and run the house.”  This mind set is dangerous to the relationship.  There is a higher rate of divorce and infidelity on both sides of this dynamic.  If this sounds familiar, the two of you need to sit do

We love getting questions from our listeners. Today we take five questions about HSAs, timing the market, college savings accounts, compounding, and Betterment woes. We get a lot of questions at LMM, and if you’re asking, someone else is probably wondering too, so we like to answer questions for everyone. 1.  Is an HSA a good idea for a family that’s pregnant or has young children?  An HSA is a good idea for anyone with a high deductible plan, it reduces your taxable income, and you don’t necessarily have to use it for medical expenses.  Check out Episode 171 for a deep dive into HSA’s.  The Mad Fientist also talked about HSA’s in Episode 120. 2.  What is your advice for someone looking to start investing this year?  I don’t want to attempt to time the market but want to be aware of the market climate before making my decision.   The best time to invest is always now.  Even if interest rates go up soon, it’s still always better to be in the market than to not be invested.  Remember, buy and hold; you’re

On a list of  biggest fears, public speaking is #2, death is #6.  So we’d rather be dead than give the eulogy.  Michael Port will help us overcome our fear. And Michael doesn’t drink so his tips don’t involve liquid courage.  We allowed him to finish the interview anyway even after that disturbing revelation. Matt and Andrew lost their fear of public speaking through “exposure therapy.”  This is Episode 217 so they’re comfortable now.  But most of us don’t have the chance to practice that much.  We need a short cut.  Michael suggests the “act as if” technique.  Act as though you’re already comfortable.  This has a powerful effect on your brain, fake it until you make it sort of a thing. The old “pretend the audience is naked” advice is terrible.  The only thing worse than talking to a room full of people would be talking to a room full of naked people.  I don’t see a lot of naked people when I’m in public so would find it distracting.  Instead, remember that you’re doing something good for the people in th

Do you feel like you always have to one-up your friends, colleagues, and neighbors when it comes to having nice things?  Stop that, you’re digging a hole. Many people are competitive and that can take many forms, including always having to one-up those around you with something bigger and better (and more expensive). Marketing has a lot to do with this.  There aren’t ugly people in commercials for a reason.  If you use Product X, you’ll be smarter, sexier, richer etc.  But most of us are bigger than our more base instincts.  We all know how marketing works and why it works. What can be harder to combat is jealousy.  Your neighbor brings home a brand new BMW.  Why should he have one and not you?  Guy’s a douche.  So now you want a new BMW.  But you are not five years old.  Just because someone has a shiny toy doesn’t mean you have to have a shiny toy too.  And all you know about the guy is that he’s a douche with a BMW.  He might be mortgaged to the hilt and working a job he hates to pay for it all. There

We’re big fans of Vanguard, but admittedly, investing in Vanguard funds is a bit more complicated than using a Robo Advisor.  In this article, we break down what we think of Vanguard’s 8 best funds while balancing both performance and cost. If you’re looking for a deeper dive into our logic as well as some colorful commentary than check out the podcast episode we did on this: Before we jump in, it’s important to mention why we are focusing so heavily on fees here. Due to their exponential nature, fees of just 1% can cause you to lose up to 25% of your earnings. That’s pretty horrendous and often what turns investors on to Vanguard in the first place. I also highly suggest you check the fees on your accounts via the free Personal Capital fee analyzer. In addition to running simulations, the analyzer pinpoints all of the overly fee-hungry funds across your accounts – retirement or otherwise. The difference between an Index Fund (ETF) and a Mutual Fund First, let’s quickly discuss what an Index Fund (ETF) a

Wish you could get more done in your day?  Mike Vardy from Productivityist joins us to share tips on how to optimize your time and get shit done. We all have the same twenty four hours in a day but some of us are better are maximizing those hours to get more done.  How do you go from being a master procrastinator to a productivityist? Stop checking your e-mail first thing!  It’s our natural inclination but those e-mails are telling you what others need you to do rather than what you know you need to get done.  You can’t not check it at all, but get done what you know you need to go before diving in. Or at least sort by sender.  Then you’ll get the messages from your boss before the ones from your colleagues asking where you want to order from on Seamless. Try the two minute rule for e-mails and tasks.  If you can do it in two minutes or less, just do it and get it out of the way. Make sure you have the right tools but not too many tools.  The tool doesn’t make you more productive, it’s the approach that m

If you’re not an investor they can seem like a different species. But they’re human too, we’ll discuss how the investor money mindset is different. Nerd culture is having its moment.  No one is afraid to admit they love Doctor Who or Lord of the Rings.  But no one really goes around bragging that they’re an investor, not even Andrew. We would describe an investor as someone looking for long term benefit.  And we don’t mean buying and holding Beanie Babies.  If you love Beanie Babies, great.  Buy all you can afford.  But don’t expect to sell them one day to fund your retirement.  We mean stuff like the stock market or rental property. An investor also doesn’t check the numbers every day and panic at the smallest hiccup.  Buy and hold.  This extends to areas other than money.  A person with an investor’s mind is always looking to the long term and not strictly what feels good at the moment.  It’s like the old marshmallow experiment. Small children were given one marshmallow.  They were told if they waited t

We first met Adam Carroll when he came on to talk about his movie about college loan debt.  He’s back to discuss loving our kids too much. What a weird concept.  Loving your kids too much.  But it can be true.  By giving them too much, by coddling them from every possible disappointment, we turn them into ineffectual adults. From ensuring that everyone gets a trophy to always giving them money when they ask, kids today can’t handle normal disappointment and have never had to work or struggle for anything.  Mom and Dad are always waiting, poised to smooth whatever path their children are on.  But in the name of loving them, we’re taking away character building opportunities. There are good reasons parents do this.  They feel guilty for working so much and not spending enough time with their kids.  They’re divorced and feel guilty for breaking up the two parent home.  But the four most important words to say to your children are “I love you” and “no.”  But no with a reason.  When you say yes, it means so muc

You ask, and we answer! Today we answer five listener questions about refinancing a loan, cashing out a retirement account early, how often to pay student loans, HSAs, and getting a first mortgage. This format has become so popular that it’s now a regular feature on LMM.  We answer questions sent in by listeners. 1.  Why is refinancing a loan so important?  If you can refinance, it will lower your interest rate, thereby lowering your monthly payment and interest payments.  Refinancing works the same no matter the type of loan, student, mortgage, car, etc. 2.  If I invest in the Retirement Target fund 2055 will I invite penalties if I need to cash out early?  Can I pocket dividends or so I have to reinvest them?   You won’t get a penalty for cashing out early on that fund. It’s okay pocket the dividends; you just have to set your account to send them to you rather than to reinvest them. 3.  Is there a benefit to paying 25% of my student loan payment a week rather than 100% once a month?   Check the term

Wish you could travel more but think it’s too expensive?  Nathaniel Boyle has devoted his life to travel and will school us on finding cheap flights. There are so many air travel booking sites now, Expedia, Travelocity, Hipmunk however the prices are all about the same.  Nathaniel recommends booking directly through the airlines.  It’s often cheaper and can offer more protection than booking through a third party. It’s much easier if you need to make a change to your itinerary and some low cost carriers like Southwest only offer direct sale. The most important thing when buying a cheap ticket is time.  When you buy your ticket, the time of year you’re planning to travel, and the days of the week you choose to fly on.  The best time to buy is on a Tuesday or Wednesday.  Those are also the best days to fly. Off season will always be cheaper. Orlando over a holiday will always be expensive. Flying to Europe in March is cheaper than flying in July. Nathaniel uses Kayak as a baseline to see what they’re selling

  Do you have financial friends?  If you don’t, you should get some.  Being around liked minded people will help to smooth your personal finance path. You are an amalgamation of the five people you spend the most time with.  Think of those people.  Are any of them financially responsible?  Are any of them materialistic?  Adults though most of us are, we can still be influenced by peer pressure. Peer pressure can help you to make good decisions.  If you have frugal friends, they understand when you can’t afford to go out to dinner and are happy to split a pizza at your place. It can also cause you to make bad decisions.  If you have baller friends, they choose the expensive restaurant and you agree then spend way more than you can afford. Your friends don’t have to be financial ninjas to qualify.  Not everyone has a Warren Buffet in their life to go to for money advice.  You can both be starting from zero but as long as you’re learning together and keeping each other accountable, it is still a bolstering r

  Does champagne taste hurt your wealth building?  Unless you’re a Russian oligarch, the answer may be yes.  We like nice things even if we can’t  afford them. There comes a time when we have to live within our means.  Easier said than done when you have expensive tastes.  Even harder to do in a big urban area like New York City.  The reason we are so revolted by mediocrity is because we are surrounded by excellence.  But when it comes to wealth building, this is a dangerous mindset. Dinners, cars, clothes.  We all have our weak spots.  So what to do about it?  Does everything have to be top shelf for your special self?  It’s not like you’re the Pope or anything.  So instead of the $50 bottle of Bordeaux, how about the $25 bottle?  You’re probably no wine expert either so likely won’t notice the difference.  That’s not too say you can’t ever have the really good stuff.  But save it for special occasions.  It’s part of what makes them special. Quality is sometimes largely perception.  Quality doesn’t alway

Rob Greenfield is an adventurer and environmentalist who’s mission is to teach people to be happier with less and to make yourself and the earth happier. Rob recently biked from Madison, Wisconsin to New York City with no money.  His journey really started three years ago when he started to notice the impact his actions had on the world around him.  He started educating himself and learned he was unknowingly creating a lot of destruction.  But it didn’t have to be that way. Money can be used for good or evil.  But it takes more time to do good than to throw money at a problem and that’s what many of us do.  America has 2% of the world’s population and consumes 25% of it’s resources. You can’t change this overnight but you can take small steps every day.  Rob made a list of things he wanted to change.  Only shopping with reusable bags, buying locally rather than at a big box store.  Rob started easy but as he progressed, the bigger changes didn’t seem that hard. Yes, Rob is a dumpster diver. He set two rul

Fellow Best New Blog winner Stephanie Halligan talks to us about student loan debt, negotiating and Matt’s favorite, the side hustle. Like a lot of teenagers, Stephanie took out a lot of college loans without realizing what that meant.   She graduated with $30,000 in debt.  She was asked through an internship if she wanted to teach personal finance to newly migrated refuges. The more she learned, the more she wanted to help her students and herself manage money and get out of debt.  Prioritizing not only debt, but what mattered to her most was the first  lesson.  Spending money on the things that really matter to you and scrimping on things that matter less is key. Negotiating is lesson two.  Negotiating salary, with debtors, when buying big ticket items, are things everyone should do but few of us attempt.  We talked about negotiating in Episode 191 but that was from a male perspective. Things are a little different for women.  Stephanie recommends Get Raised to help you learn how to get more money from

  We get a lot of questions about bankruptcy at LMM but it’s a complicated subject so we brought expert Steve Rhode to help explain the fine details. Some people consider bankruptcy the easy way out but it’s more complicated that.  Any time money is concerned, there is no quick fix.  But in some cases it’s also not as dire as some of us believe and may be the best option. It takes seven years for bad marks to fall off your credit report but you don’t have to wait seven years to start rebuilding your credit.  According to Steve that is just not as big a deal as people make it out to be.  Missing payments stays on your record just as long but you’re still paying that bill.  About twelve months after declaration, you can get secured credit cards, get better rates on loans and even qualify for a mortgage and car loan.  It might not be a great idea to do that, but it is possible. Bankruptcy doesn’t have to be a last resort.  If the amount of debt you have is going to really hamper your ability to retire, screw

  Why do so few succeed in the stock market and so many fail?  We interview the man who literally wrote the book on the subject, author Steve Sears. One of our favorite quotes in from Warren Buffet, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”  But that takes balls and his willingness to buy fear is one of the reasons he has amassed a fortune. We advocate long term investing and that strategy is better and more successful than jumping in and out of the market.  So why do so many people do that?  They’re driven by what they hear and read in the news and follow the “market mob.”  They hear about a fast rising stock and jump on it without doing even the most rudimentary research.  A successful investor stays away from this like the plague.  Until the stock bottoms out, that’s when they buy. Fifty percent of your gains will come from doing nothing.  Buy stocks that pay steady dividends and make them the foundation of your portfolio. Bad investors think of ways to make money and good

  By now as a long time LMM listener, you have a financial plan.  But do you know how to prioritize it?  We’ll explain how best to get your ducks in a row. Matt and Andrew got into a pillow fight the last time they tried to do a show on this topic this takes two.  The good folks over at LearnVest set out a list of three financial priorities.  Retirement, emergency savings and debt. 1.  Retirement comes first.  Because of inflation, the dollars you have now will be worth less than when you retire so you need to accumulate those dollars now.  Most of us will also not be able to rely on social security or pensions once we stop working.  Pay yourself first whatever that means for you, 401K, Ira, Roth IRA etc. 2.  Emergency Savings.  Have a rainy day fund otherwise, you have to rely on a credit card which may mean racking up lots of interest charges or you’ll draw from your retirement account which means robbing the future you. 3.  Debt.  Debt is an emergency, this is a no-brainer. We have some issues with t