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

We use credit cards to buy everything these days- groceries, drinks with co-workers, cat beds, gum, sweater vests and all the other things that make us happy.  Then the end of the month rolls around. Your bill comes, and you come to the dreaded realization that you blew your budget once again and your credit card bill is more than you can handle.  It’s happened to the best of us, but it doesn’t have to happen to you anymore. Introducing Debitize, a new way to pay off credit cards on time and responsibly. Today the guys talk to Liran Amrany, the CEO Debitize about how it works and the story behind it’s creation.   You can listen to the episode here: What is Debitize? Liran founded Debitize to help simplify, optimize, and automate personal finances, especially around credit card spending where he witnessed a significant need. Two-thirds of Millennials avoid using credit cards mostly because they have seen debt negatively affect friends and family. However, building credit is important, and Liran wanted t

For the month of January, Listen Money Matters is getting back to the basics with a month focused on the debt and the importance of credit.  Over the course of the month, the guys will cover the fundamentals of credit, debt reduction plans and talk to an awesome guest about a tool he created to help keep you out of debt.  What is affected by your credit?  Well, everything really. Your credit score is a number that reflects your credit risk level. If you are looking to borrow money for any reason – to purchase a car, get a mortgage or to take out a student loan, your credit score will determine how much that loan will cost you.  If you have a low credit score, you will have a harder time getting a loan, and when you do qualify for a loan, the interest rates will be very high. Compared to people with good credit scores, your monthly payments will be more per month to pay off a loan of the same value. Bottomline, having bad credit will cost you. Having good credit history is not just about being able to buy thi

No one ever said being an entrepreneur was easy, but what a many people don’t know are the psychological struggles like depression and anxiety that also come with it.  Every day, even sometimes every hour, there are ups and downs causing a constant battle of emotions in their mind. Entrepreneurs tend to struggle silently not to show their vulnerability.  Not until lately have entrepreneurs come forward to talk about these struggles, including today’s guest, Sheryl O’Loughlin. She is the former CEO of Clif Bar, CEO of Plum Organics and she is currently CEO of REBBL super herb beverages.  The guys talk to her about her new book Killing It: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart. Entrepreneurs juggle so many roles when building their business. Sheryl knows firsthand how difficult it can be to balance business, family and mental health without one or more pieces falling by the wayside. When she began to struggle with an eating disorder she realized something needed to change. In

Yep, it’s time of the year again for New Years Resolutions to kick-in and for many of us, that means getting your finances in order. Are you financially ready for the new year?  As we slowly approach the new year, it’s a great time to financially prepared for what’s to come. Whether you want to save for a home, get a new job or start a side hustle, you need to financially prepare you and your family. Today the guys review their last year in business and finance and talk about how they are going to prepare for next year.  A Financial Yearly Review  Even though 2016 has come and gone, it is still important to reflection and review of the past year. Start by giving yourself a high five and think about all the things you did accomplish. What areas did you improve and what goals did you achieve? Now that you reached those goals, are there any things you need to do in the next year to maintain those goals?  Next is the not so fun part. Look at what got pushed to the wayside bur don’t beat yourself up for going off

This week the guys tackle five questions from the audience on debt, real estate investing and freelancing.  Question one:  Hi, Andrew, Tom, and Laura,  I think an important, and sorely needed topic is finance for freelancers. And not even those who use invoicing systems. I’ve been freelancing for more years than I care to admit, and there are so many like me who copyedit, proofread or design book jackets. We’re one-person shows, with  little-to-no cushion, where times are feast or famine. I would love to talk about this more or hear you guys talk about it in more  depth.  Putting together a financial system when you have variable income is uses the same fundamentals as someone who is a salaried employee. However, you’ll have to build a bigger cushion if your income isn’t consistent.  You need to keep more in a reserve account than someone who has steady pay. Keep track of your income month to month and use that data to plan for the upcoming year. If you have a pool business and make most of your money from Ap

Budgeting sucks. No one really wants to do it. It’s hard to stick with, it’s a chore to review it every month and it makes you feel like crap when you spend way too much on lattes. But, you’re an adult so you need to do it. There are a few types of budgets, which one is right for you?  We’re getting back to basics of budgeting. Both Thomas and Andrew have been off the rails with their own budgets so get ready for some confessions. They will discuss different types of budgets, how they work and which ones are the least painful. Reverse Budgeting This budgeting method focuses on savings goals. Instead of setting up budget categories to look at your spending, create savings goals and whatever is left you have to spend. Start allocating money at the top of your priority list and work your way down. Pay yourself first. Retirement, savings, and emergency fund are put aside first. Next are fixed expenses such as mortgage/rent, utilities, car payment, etc. Third are non-fixed expenses. Anything that can fluctuate

Today on the show the guys talk with Shannon McLay, a financial planner, author, blogger, and podcaster.  She left her traditional financial services job to start her own company, The Financial Gym in NYC – a fun, judgment-free space where you can talk freely about your finances, get the help you need and have a glass of wine while doing it. Shannon left her corporate job because she felt that the financial firms only provided the tools and resources to help those who had high net worth. She started doing a lot of pro bono work on the side for people who were earning a lower salary and soon realized that helping those people was much more fulfilling. That’s when she decided to start her own business doing just that. She understands that the road to financial fitness is different for everyone, so she offers multiple solutions to help people get and stay financially fit. Shannon is committed to making financial fitness fun, easy and accessible for others. She’s like the Jillian Michaels of personal finance.

Want to make a little money on the side? You can use that old chestnut of ‘buy low sell high’ to your advantage. There are a ton of people making money selling on Amazon and eBay using retail arbitrage.  If you want to learn how to make money selling on Amazon we’ll teach you how to get started with retail arbitrage.  Forty percent of Amazon sales come from third-party sellers.  Their merchandise stored in Amazon’s warehouses. So clearly, there is money to be made. We talk to a master at selling on Amazon, Jordan Malik is not only an award-winning Amazon seller, he’s written a best-selling book on how to make eBay and Amazon selling work for you.  Buying & Selling? No, It’s Retail Arbitrage  Arbitrage is defined as, “The simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset in order to profit from a difference in the price.” Which is a fancy way of saying, buy low and sell high?  The general idea is simply of finding products for a good price, maybe something on clearance which you are able to sell for profit. Most peop

The wage pay gap between men and women has been a major focus of attention. In 2015, full-time female workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men.  We have all heard the stats, many times, yet still, the gap has barely moved in last decade. Although women obtain undergraduate and graduate degrees at higher rates than men education hasn’t been enough to move the needle. Today we have Allegra Brantly on the show, a negotiation expert who coaches women on getting fair pay and the raises they deserve. She believes that complaining about the wage gap will not close it, the only way women are going to get paid what they are worth is to ask for it. It’s time we stop undervaluing ourselves and get paid what we’re worth. Not just women, men too. According to Allegra, the wage gap can cost a full-time working woman a ton of money over the course of her lifetime. She will need to work an average of ten plus more years to get equality. And her savings need to stretch longer because of women on average li

Today the guys talk to Eric Bowlin, a successful multi-unit real estate investor from Texas about how he created his real estate empire by the age of 30. He accidentally got into real estate back in college when he and his wife decided to buy a house near the University. They purchased a 3 unit building, living in one unit and renting the rest. One night while watching a movie with his wife, he heard a knock on the door. It was one of their tenants there to pay rent. At that moment he realized that I would become a real estate investor. That was the easiest money he had ever earned in his entire life. At that moment he realized that I would become a real estate investor. That was the easiest money he had ever earned in his entire life. Eric now owns 26 units making him about 130K per year and he and his family have achieved financial freedom. He sacrificed a lot to get to where he is today, and never stopped planning, preparing, and learning. Eric talks to a many people who have said “I’ve always wanted

Veterans financial challenges are different from those faced by civilians.  Too many come home from service with a lack of knowledge on how to handle their personal finances. Many also struggle to find jobs and need some guidance on how to navigate their new life in the civilian world.  Financial literacy is desperately needed for veterans, and today our guest works to help service families secure economic future they feel good about. In honor of Veterans Day, the guys talk to Douglas McCormick about economic empowerment of veterans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emotions impact every financial decision we face and sometimes it causes us to make choices out of fear or greed.  Today on the show the guys talk to Dr. Daniel Crosby, a psychologist, behavioral finance expert and asset manager.  He is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Personal Benchmark: Integrating Behavioral Finance and Founder of Nocturne Capital. In Daniels’ latest book, The Laws of Wealth, he talks about principles for managing your behavior and how emotion and psychology influence our financial decisions. What is behavioral finance? The concept of behavioral finance is a fairly new idea that looks at behavioral, psychological theory together with economic explanations for why people make irrational financial decisions. Why do so many smart people making the wrong choices with their money? Daniel wants to find out what causes some people to behave illogically when it comes to finance and how to build investment portfolios based on unvalued investments created by investor’s emotional beh

This week the guys tackle five questions from the audience on windfalls, real estate, and building credit.  Question One  First off, let me start by saying I’m loving the Investment Property series you guys are doing. I totally want to get into this, just need to figure out how to save for that first down payment…  My question is this…you guys talked about saving 15% a month for the reserve account to cover vacancy and break fixes…Let’s say you own a great property, and you don’t have to dip into the reserve account much for a long time. Is there a point where you cap it and stop contributing to the reserve account?  Aaron via Email  You won’t want to keep all of the property earnings in your reserve account because in the unlikely case you do get sued – say goodbye to that money. Part of our strategy is to choose insurance policies with high deductibles so for fixes and updates that are not major will pay out of pocket. By not making small claims, our monthly premium low.e are keeping the reserve account up

How would you feel if you made $3.75 million in bonuses a year? It hard to imagine but our guest has done it. And he wrote a book about it! Today we have a chat with Sam Polk, author of For the Love of Money.  For most people, that amount of money would be enough to live a more than a comfortable lifestyle for many years. I can’t even begin to imagine what that would feel like, but if I had to guess, I would say it would probably feel pretty damn good.  For today’s guest, 3.75 million just wasn’t enough. Today we have Sam Polk on the show to talk to us about his book For the Love of Money. The guys go deep on what life on Wall Street was like, money addiction and redefining success. Meet Sam Polk At only 30 years old Sam Polk was doing very well in his career working as a senior trader on Wall Street. He was offered an annual bonus of $3.75 million and was not happy with it because it wasn’t enough. At that moment he knew he had lost himself in his obsessive pursuit of money. He was addicted to it, and no

We like to check in with our listeners and see how their financial life is going. Today we will take a look at This Financial Life with Corey. We will show him how to make more money by starting a music teaching business.  Corey lives in the Boston Area, and he sure is a hustler. He currently, works six different jobs throughout the year and has been saving as much as he can to improve his financial life. One of his gigs is teaching private lessons on trombone, and he wants to expand that to make it a full-time business. Right now he has two students but doesn’t know how to grow his side gig. On this episode, Andrew and Thomas will go through the steps of legitimizing and marketing a side project like Corey’s. Corey’s Financial Life Corey neglected his finances for many years, ignoring his debt, forgetting payments and spending money recklessly. After spending the good part of his four years at college majoring in video games, parties, and girls, he left with student loan debt, no degree and depression. A

You have a budget, great! But what about your budget categories? Setting them up without losing your sanity can be a tall order.  Having a budget is only the first step. You need to set up budget categories that are detailed enough to show you where your money is going but not so detailed that you go nuts trying to keep track of them all.  Budgets are Personal Finance 101  No matter how little or how much money you have, everyone needs a budget. Every other aspect of successfully managing your finances are built on knowing how much money you have coming in, how much is going out and where it’s going. But there are so many ways to budget that it can be confusing. How many budget categories is too many? How many is too few? If a budget is too complicated, you’re unlikely to stick to it. You want a system that is simple and straightforward. The 50/30/20 method fits the bill. 50/30/20 This budgeting method is simple. You allocate your total budget at these percentages. We’re going to break down what expenses

As technology advances, it enables people to become more connected and informed. One of the biggest effects of new technology is on the financial world. Now, investments are incredibly accessible to all people searching to live a more flexible financial life. People can invest their money more easily than ever before  Online financial planning and management services allow people to invest money and manage their portfolios from their computers or phones.    Online management takes the guesswork out of investing. It gives users the opportunity to establish and develop a portfolio of investments with ease. Because let’s face it, we aren’t Warren Buffett. Picking the right stocks, at the right time, and holding on through the ups and downs, can be impossible.  Enter Personal Capital  One such online investment platform, Personal Capital, has made a name for itself as a comprehensive investment checkup tool that offers a range of services at a low cost. But does this platform live up to the hype? Below you will

Thinking about a 401k loan? A 401k is meant to fund retirement, but you can withdraw money from it earlier. There can be negative consequences if you borrow from your 401k but they are not as dire as we have been led to believe. Using the money to make or save money or to pay off high-interest debt can pay off.  It goes against personal finance philosophy to take money out of a retirement account before retirement, but under the right circumstances, it is something to consider. 401k Recap By now most of you know what a 401k is but for those new to the site, this will get you up to speed. A 401k is an employer-sponsored retirement account. Employee contributions are deducted directly from your paycheck before they are taxed. The money is invested into one of the funds offered by the employer. If you’re lucky, your employer matches your contribution. This is free money. For the year 2017, you can contribute up to $18,000. Because that money is meant for retirement, withdraws are discouraged before you reach

Buying a rental property is fun, but it certainly needs to be done with care and a ton of research. Since a rental property is a long-term investment, you want to make sure you review all considerations.  You are putting a lot of money into a property for a down payment, so you need to arm yourself with all the information you need to make a profitable investment. This is week four of our real estate investments series.    The guys talk in depth about buying a rental property, assembling your team and reducing risk. Are the local laws in your favor? EVICTION LAWS! Find out what the eviction laws are before committing yourself (and money) to a particular area. Of course, you don’t want to have to evict a tenant, but if someone is living in your place and not paying you to rent for months, you got to do what you got to do. How long does it take to evict someone? In places like NJ, it can take months to have someone legally evicted while you wait around losing money. How easy is it to raise the rent? The

Does Roofstock live up to their promises? In our Roofstock review, we dig into their selection of turnkey rental properties and put our money on the line to find out.  I’ll admit, I’ve been obsessed with rental properties for a few months now. It took me about that long to wrap my brain around it all. There is so much to think about and consider – the topic of turn-key real estate investing is littered with “rabbit holes.” Now, before we jump in you may be wondering, “why would I ever want to get into rental properties?” If so you should probably start here: The Case for Real Estate Investment Properties. Eventually, after much research, Laura and I decided that we were going to get rental properties far away from the NYC area. In starting our search for turn-key rentals, here were some of the biggest sticking points for us: * How could you possibly purchase a property sight unseen? Is the internet full of crazies? * How do I find properties in my price range that aren’t in a war zone and produce a resp