Listen Money Matters - Free Your Inner Financial Badass. All The Stuff You Should Know About Personal Finance.

How many cars have you owned over the years? Is it more than seven? That’s how many Matt has owned. And he learned a thing or two. These are the lessons learned from owning seven cars. Some learned the hard way! Full Article Here Show Notes Edmunds: a site that lets you research prices for new and used vehicles and contains a database of dealer incentives and rebates. Cars.com: is a site that lets you search for information on new and used cars online. Autotrader: is an online marketplace for new and used cars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Larsgaard from Save Outside the Box shows us easy ways to save money without giving up the things you love. Joel used to be budget adverse. His theory was “bring in more than you spend and don’t buy nice things.” But now with a baby in the mix, Joel wanted to save more while not giving up the things he loves in life, good beer, folk art and travel. Full Article Here Show Notes SaveOutsideTheBox.com: Joel’s site devoted to finding extra money in places you haven’t considered. Megabus: A nearly nation-wide low-cost transportation option. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get Rich Slowly recently posted an article titled, “The Ten Habits of Financially Successful People.”  See how many you share.   Full Article Here Show Notes 10 Habits of Financially Successful People: The blog post the episode is based on. Getting Things Done: David Allen’s book on productivity. MerlinMann.com: Merlin is a renaissance man who has a website and podcast dedicated to finding the time and attention to do your best creative work. Rescue Time: A website that does for your time what Mint.com does for your money. Four Hour Work Week: Tim Ferriss’ book on how to maximize your productivity in the least amount of time and from anywhere in the world. Seth Godin: Seth has authored 17 books on marketing in the digital age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone should have received or should soon receive your tax return. Today we discuss the best way to make that money work for you. Full Article Here Show Notes SavingForCollege.com: An explanation of the 529 college savings plan. Mint.com: an on-line money managing tool. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of us have debt. Claire Murdough tells us how to pay your debt as quickly and efficiently as possible. You can enter your debt account information and how much you are paying on each. RFZ will generate a graph showing how long it will take to pay the debt, what interest you will incur, and show you how much more quickly you can pay the debt off by adding money to your payments. The site is free but there is an upgrade that allows you to monitor your credit score and to make payments through RFZ. The site has recently added a feature that will allow you to manually enter debts for things like the $200 you borrowed from mom last month. Snowball vs stack method. The snowball method advocates paying off your smallest balance first. The benefit being psychological. You did it, you paid off that Target card! The stacking method requires paying off the highest interest rate debt first. Both methods employ the same tactics of paying only the minimums on the other debts while paying off the prioritized one an

Americans don’t get much vacation.  The average American gets ten days of paid vacation. And that is at the mercy of your employer. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not legally mandate paid vacation. It will make you a better person and a better employee. Learn why it’s important to take what you do get.   Full Article Here Show Notes RyanCarson.com: A blog post by Ryan Carson, the founder of Treehouse, about their change to the 4 day work week. TimeDay.org: Take Back Your Time. A movement to encourage people to fight for legally mandated paid vacation. Karoshi: A Wikipedia article detailing Karoshi, death from overwork. Happy: The Movie: An award-winning documentary that travels the world to find out what makes us happy. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World: NPR correspondent Eric Weiner’s book on what constitutes happiness around the world. More: An Academy Award-nominated short animated film that depicts the

What is high-frequency trading?  Is it something you need to worry about?  Don’t let the unknown keep you out of the market.   Full Article Here   Show Notes The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap: Matt Taibbi’s book on the growing wealth gap in America. Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt:  Michael Lewis’ book about the creation of an exchange where high-frequency trading will garner no advantage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We discuss pain-free ways to find extra money to invest. Whether it’s into a Betterment account, a Roth IRA, or a brokerage account. It’s easy to say, “go out and get a second job,” and use that money to invest, but that’s not realistic for everyone. Using these methods, you can grow your investing money faster and easier. Full Article Here Show Notes Gazelle: Sell your old electronics. Amazon Affiliate Program: Become an Amazon Affiliate and make money when your readers buy your recommendations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode we welcome Jim Wang, founder of Bargaineering.com, a personal finance blog, to discuss how you can turn your hobby into cash. Jim began Bargaineering in 2005 while working a full-time job. After a lot of trial and error, he was able to devote himself full-time to the site within 3 years. In January of 2010, he sold the site for seven figures. Full Article Here Show Notes Bargineering.com: A personal finance blog that has been featured in the New York Times and Business Week that discusses money, credit cards, investing, and mortgages. MicroBlogger.com: Jim’s website and podcast that teaches you how to build a successful online business. ScotchAddict.com: Jim’s blog dedicated to all things Scotch. GrillMaestro.com: Jim’s blog on that most beloved past time of America, barbecue grilling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a new face of retirement and financial independence these days and it doesn’t include being over 65 and never working again. That kind of retirement kills, people! Don’t believe me? Take Freakonomics word for it. Let’s talk about what you need to do to achieve the early retirement you want. So maybe you start your own business when you aren’t required to show up at an office forty hours a week. Or you can volunteer. You can go back to school, maybe become a teacher and give back to your community. Social security can be a relic of the past by the time American Millennials reach the age of eligibility. We all need to take our retirement into our own hands. And you don’t have to spend the whole prime of your life slaving for the man. So you need to fund your own retirement through 401K’s, IRA’s and investing in the stock market. The earlier you start, the better. If you are getting a late start, hope is not lost. Full Article Here Show Notes Bulleit Bourbon: This is the whiskey that Andrew was

On this episode, we welcome blogger Kristin Wong to discuss the psychology of money. Kristin grew up in a frugal household but like many of us, didn't have any guidance when it came to investing. Frugality seems less daunting and allows for instant gratification. You can cancel your cable service right now and save $100 a month or more. It doesn't take any research or special knowledge. Full Article Here Show Notes Get Rich Slowly: A blog that covers various aspects of personal finance. Two Cents Lifehacker: A sub-blog of Lifehacker dedicated to personal finance. Brokepedia: Kristin Wong’s personal blog that focuses on frugal living through practical, money saving tips. Personal Capital: A free software program to help track and manage your investments.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

0% APR offers can be a great thing.  But if you don’t understand how they work, it can cost you big time. In theory, this is a free loan.  But there are so many ways you can screw it up and the lender is counting on that.   Full Article Here Show Notes Cerveza Pacifico: A Mexican beer. Mint:  The easy way to track your spending.   Help Out By Leaving a Review on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Money isn’t about being rich. Money is about choice and the freedom that goes along with being able to make decisions when money is not the only deciding factor. Stop thinking about money in terms of being rich and instead think about ways it can grant you financial freedom.   Full Article Here Show Notes Betterment: Start investing to build the life you want. Mint: Take control of your money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frugal living is pretty trendy right now, but how frugal is too frugal?  Should you clip coupons, wash and reuse your tin foil?  Where do we draw the line? Being frugal is a good thing. But frugal living can be taken too far and sometimes even cost you more in the long run. Walk the fine line without crossing over.  Is there such a thing as being too frugal?   At its core, being frugal is a good thing. But lots of things that are fundamentally good can be harmful and destructive if taken to an extreme. Drinking water can even be deadly if you overdo it. We should all be encouraged to be frugal in certain areas but don’t go nuts!   And being frugal is only one side of the coin. There is only so much you can cut out of your spending, however, there is no cap on how much money you can make. If you’re down to minimum expenses than maybe it’s time to find ways to make some extra money on the side or create some passive income. Full Article Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, we talk to Adam Carroll who created the documentary about the current student loan debt crisis called Broke, Busted and Disgusted.   We get a lot of questions about student loan debt but we didn’t understand just how dire the state of things was until we spoke to Adam.  It’s so much worse than you can imagine.  When BB&D is released it will be a wake-up call for a lot of people.   For many people starting college, they have no idea what it means to take out massive amounts of student loans.  This is especially true for first-generation college kids.  Some of them are leaving school with $70, $80, $120,000 of debt. So, why is college so expensive now?  Federal funding for education has been cut. Bankruptcy laws were changed in the early 2000s to exclude student loans from being discharged in nearly all circumstances.   That was carte blanche for the lenders.  There was nearly no way they would lose money and they opened their coffers accordingly.  There is now $1.2 trillion in outstanding stud

We’ll discuss a boring subject, how stocks, bonds, and funds work but make it less boring by using Arrested Development to illustrate our points! Recently, we published a post called, An Illustrated Guide to Investment Types. Before writing, Matt asked Andrew to explain to him how stocks and bonds are born. Andrew knows that Matt’s favorite show is Arrested Development, so he put it in terms Matt could understand – The Banana Stand. He described the whole scenario using characters and businesses from Arrested Development. For those familiar with the show, this will make things clear and fun to learn. For non-fans, it’s still useful in its simplicity. Stocks:  You have a company that you own 100%.  But you want some money to expand.  So you sell some stock.  An investor gives you money and you give them some ownership of the company. Bonds: Bonds are another way to raise money.  It’s a debt investment.  Investors loan money for a set period of time at a fixed interest rate.  The bulk of the money comes at

There are some rules, or commandments, that all investors should live by. We’ll discuss those ten commandments and explain the importance of each one.   1.  Think Long Term. You need to be in the market for the long con.  Put your money in and leave it alone.  You are not a day trader.   2.  Invest What You Can Afford. Don’t have so much money in the market that you have to pull it out to pay bills.  The constant in and out of the market is detrimental to long term gains.   3.  Buy What You Believe In.  If you have an interest, tech, music, you probably know a lot about brands within those interests.  That makes them good companies to invest in for you because you already have a lot of knowledge about the company.   4.  Do Your Own Research.  Matt bought Sirius stock because some guy told him to.  He didn’t do any research and lost money.  You have to put in some due diligence before buying stock.   5.  Set It And Forget It. Constantly checking your numbers does not make them go up.  Get your process in place

There are a million credit cards out there and some are better than others.  We’ll help you find the one that will best meet your needs. When used responsibly, a credit card can be a great tool.  You can earn all kinds of rewards from travel points to cash back.  They also offer much more protection than a debit card.   Full Article Here Show Notes The Andrew Sangria - Rum, wine, triple sec and sprite. Perhaps Andrew will delight us and share his actual recipe. I'll ask him. (edited by Andrew) For the record, who has time to measure ingredients? You'll know you've done it right if you still taste the rum ;) Podcast Correction: In case you're too lazy to scroll down much further I'd like to point out that we made a mistake in the episode. You can't use prepaid cards to build credit but you CAN use secured cards to. A similar idea only there's actual credit usage involved with secured cards. Thanks goes out to Kyle Russell for catching this one! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, we talk about Streamline Refinancing.  Specifically, how Matt used it to shave over $130 a month off his mortgage payment without being hit with more interest or increasing the term of his mortgage.   The refinance also bought him a month without payment and the closing costs were less than the monthly mortgage payment he saved.   Matt also doesn’t have a steady paycheck and the way he streamlines refinanced didn’t require a pay stub. We calculated that over the remaining term of his mortgage he will save over $13,000. Lower payment and lower cost overall – profit all around!   In addition to discussing the details of Matt’s refinance we go a bit into the difference between the various types of mortgages and their merits.  We may also make fun of financing a car but if you know me, that’s to be expected ;)   Show Notes Fixed Rate Mortgage – The 30-year mortgage and 15-year mortgage fall under this category. The majority of mortgages are fixed rate although that doesn’t mean it’s the best op

On this episode, we talk to Cat Alford of BudgetBlonde.com. She’s a personal finance blogger, writer, and a proud mother of twins. I met Cat when I first started Listen Money Matters and she’s been a huge help both in guiding me in the right direction with the site and being supportive of all the crazy things we try over here. She has a very interesting story on how she transitioned from a day job to blogging full time, life in Grenada and handling student loan debt. You won’t only find her on Budget Blonde as she somehow finds the time to also write for popular sites like the Huffington Post and Young Adult Money. Show Notes Budget Blonde – Cat’s awesome and very personal blog about being frugal, doing things DIY style and being smart with money.  It’s a great read! Be warned though, she’s not blonde anymore ;) FinCon – Financial bloggers conference. We’ll be there and so will Cat! Send us an email if you want to hang out! Million Mile Secrets – One of the bigger credit card churn websites that C