The Stacking Benjamins Show

How much should personal passion factor into our choice of job/career/professional pursuit? Is it acceptable to be content with going after a sweet stack of Benjamins, even if the way you earn them doesn't align with your passion? Why do we have to choose between success and passion? Joining us today to tackle the money or passion debate is thought leader, Fortune 500 member, entrepreneur, and passion advocate Liz Elting. She'll help us learn how we can influence our career paths so that it aligns more with our passions. In our headline, we see evidence of a cooling off rental market (finally). We dive into the repercussions for renters, landlords, and the economy as a whole. In our Haven Lifeline segment, we take a call from Christine in Seattle about opening investment accounts for minors - and what special considerations, if any, there are if a non-parental, non-guardian relative wants to help the minor open it. Finally, Doug chips in with some space-related trivia. It's guaranteed to be out of this world! FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/passion-business-liz-elting-1417 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How is your thinking plan looking? Is it all clear skies and amber waves of grain? Or is it a pollution-riddled smog alert experienced during rush hour in LA - if it were next to an erupting Mt. Saint Helens? Joining our roundtable is Elaine King, a Peruvian-born CFP® who practices financial planning in Miami. She joins our regular contributors - Paula Pant who is currently located in Manhattan, New York, and Len Penzo who is still somewhere in a bunker below the Los Angeles pollution. They'll debate what ways we can use to combat the pollution that obstructs the view of our financial future. We'll talk about how we have to be aware of both internal and external sources of financial pollution and how we can combat all pollutant threats - how our mindset impacts our view of finances as well as how external factors do. In addition to cutting/controlling expenses, we dive into how earning more money - and the mindset shift that needs to happen within you - is an important factor in cleaning up what pollution is mucking up your financial outlook. What time pollution sources are impacting your life that, if better handled, could clear up a lot of the smog that blocks your financial future? In the second half of our discussion, we'll talk about how integrating the right risk-management strategy is one big, often undervalued, way to clean up the pollution that obscures your financial view. We'll talk about what insurances are essential, and what probably aren't worth it. Also, what investments and investment strategies could be adding to the pollution that contaminates your financial view? What about our tax planning strategies? What screams pollution louder than taxes? Stick around for Doug's trivia relationship-based trivia when we discuss one big way to pollute the air in your happy union. Will Elaine do OG solid and pull out the W? Will Paula continue her miracle run? Will Len bore us amaze us put his happy marriage with the honeybee in danger with his dominance of dating app knowledge? Be sure to tune in to find out! FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/friday-roundtable-financial-pollution-with-elaine-king-1415 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How much of your own emotions and energy go into your financial decisions? Dr. Julia DiGangi joins Joe to chat about how to master your emotions and maximize your energy. She teaches us how to recognize stress triggers so you can control your emotions and energy before they get out of hand. What proactive steps can we take to master our emotions? She will help each of us self-analyze our relationship with money - the emotional energy and emotional relationship. What would our money say about you and how you treat it? What kind of energy and emotions are you treating it with? In our headline, we look at an encouraging trend in minority populations in the US with regard to how many people are working with financial professionals. We'll throw out the Haven Lifeline to Mark who has a question about target-date funds. Plus, Doug may or may not try to pull a fast one on us with his American history-themed trivia. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/Emotions-and-energy-investing-dr-julia-digangi-1414 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you ready to maximize your confidence and unleash your inner bad bitch (even if you're a guy)? Today's interview with certified and self-proclaimed bad bitch Lisa Carmen Wang, and it's one you do not want to miss if you're looking to achieve more self-confidence to accomplish your dreams in relationships, career, and life. She dives into her story of self-discovery and how she built unbreakable habits that allowed her to tune out her critics and focus on being her best self. Lisa's book, The Bad Bitch Business Bible: 10 Commandments to Break Free of Good Girl Brainwashing and Take Charge of Your Body, Boundaries, and Bank Account, is the guide you need to become the unbreakable bad bitch in your life, career, and finances. You'll learn some of Lisa's invaluable life lessons that you can directly apply to your own life today to attain more confidence in yourself. From how you invest in yourself, your skills, your business, and your self-growth to how you exude your own confidence in all your interactions with others, Lisa's book will help you take stock of your daily mental routines and help you make improvements to your thoughts - which will result in improvements in your life. In our headline, we talk about a piece from the Wall Street Journal about how to maintain harmony with your significant other by planning the perfect money date. Plus you won't want to miss out on Doug's Olympic-themed trivia! FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/bad-money-b-with-lisa-carmen-wang-1413 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Taylor Swift made even more headlines when she decided to sidestep traditional Hollywood studios and distribute her new movie, filmed as part of her Eras Tour, directly to movie theaters and millions of her adoring fans. What does Taylor know that the rest of us should about the value added by so-called middlemen? Joining us for this special roundtable discussion, we welcome back author and advisor Eric Brotman who joins Paula Pant and Len Penzo. In the second half of show, sponsored by DepositAccounts.com, we dive into in what cases hiring an advisor makes sense and what traits to look for when searching for an advisor. Be sure to stick around for the thrilling continuation of our year-long trivia competition. Doug has some 90s-sitcom-themed trivia on deck. Does this spell disaster for Paula? Or will she shock us all and extend her lead as we head into the final week of September? FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/friday-roundtable-taylor-swift-1412 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You have one money-making engine that's greater than all of the rest: you. Many of us duct tape our health, popping pills for symptoms and covering up the root causes of our energy depletion. Burnout shows itself in a myriad of ways, and today Dr. Neha Sangwan dives into the clues that you just might be burning the candle at both ends. We talk about stages of burnout, identifying how we got to burnout, and what we can do to quell the problem once and for all. We talk about the stages of burnout, the horrible ways we neglect ourselves, and how to write a prescription for a better bill of health that will help us not only avoid future burnout, but thrive. In our headline segment, a recent Wall Street Journal piece purports to list where you should put your money now that interest rates are higher. Does it matter that rates are higher? Have your goals changed? We just might have an issue with this premise today...something that you rarely hear from us, I know. Plus, we throw out the Haven Life line to a lucky Stacker in need of help AND Doug provides another dose of his incredible trivia. You can never get burnout from that! Enjoy! You'll find show notes at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Imagine that you JUST figured out what the financial independence movement is all about. You've been saving, but doing nothing exotic. You earlier had thought that putting money in the stock market was "gambling," like many people do. Today, though, you figure out that you've not only done a great job of making your dreams come true, but you've achieved financial independence, and you're still in your 40's. How happy would you be? Today we're live from Camp FI (camp financial independence), where a group of like-minded people are hanging out for a weekend talking about values, money, and pushing themselves to live a congruent lifestyle. Not only will we tell Jaylyn's story of surprisingly reaching his next phase of life, but so much more. Past guest Dan Sheeks joins Joe and special guest host Roger Whitney (Retirement Answer Man podcast), to share details of his group dedicated to helping young entrepreneurs and savers find each other. Not only does Dan explain what's special about these young achievers (usually between ages 18 and 25), but we get to meet two of them! Mia and Adrian both share their stories of struggle and success, with lessons that apply to all of us, whether you're working for "the man" or trying to reach financial independence by starting a business of your own. We'll also throw things back to Doug at the halfway mark for our trivia segment. While THAT segment isn't about financial independence per se, it IS a look into an area of finance you may not have thought about previously. Financial independence, entrepreneurship, live radio, and trivia? I know! Pinch us! Enjoy! FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/stories-from-camp-fi-1411 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What could be better than clearing clutter and saving money at the same time? And just in time for the upcoming holiday season! Maybe you'll end up with more cash in your pocket to get through the traditionally rough holiday season with more money in your pocket. On today's special roundtable discussion, we dive into an article about what you can avoid buying and reduce clutter. We're joined by Columbia Magazine recipient and Afford Anything's creator, Paula Pant; Bunker Quarterly recipient and creator of the award-winning blog lenpenzo.com, Len Penzo; and Mr. "I only read the articles" and co-host of this here podcast, OG. Of course, to clear clutter, they each recycle copies of their favorite papers! In the second half of the show, you'll hear the dramatic finale of our clutter-clearing debate. Tempers are guaranteed to flare, feelings will be disregarded, and a certain podcast host's decency will be brought into question. It's just another game show episode of the Stacking Benjamins show! Finally, stick around for our intense year-long financial nerd trivia! No clutter clearing is required here. With Paula and Len tied for first place for the past few weeks, will one of them finally break the tie and claim sole possession of first place? Will O "Do you believe in miracles?" G continue his improbable comeback and force the field into a 3-way tie? Tune in and find out! Join us for fun to clear the clutter in your brain! Before you know it, you'll be selling that old NordicTrack and jumping on the "let's save money" train! FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/save-money-and-declutter-roundtable-1408 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trading time for money. Most of us do it. In fact, before financial revolutionary Vicki Robbin (find her on past episodes), the practice was even more prevalent. Chad Carson is a real estate investor who believes that if you're building a pile of assets, often less can be more (especially if it's slightly hands-on like real estate). Using his own journey and real-life examples of other people, Chad talks us through the "trading time for money" connundrum, and hopefully helps us that Go Big or Go Home may not be the only approach to living your life. We even talk trading time for money in our headline today. Amazon and other companies are calling people back to the office. Many are fighting this, wishing to spend their career at home. If that's you, what do you do? Do we work better in the workplace or from home? We debate this (heatedly) on today's episode. How about someone who wasn't trading time for money? We'll cover that in Doug's trivia segment. Before players were paid, they had to find their own way...and we bring you a question about the Heisman Trophy in honor of football season kicking off. And, to keep the "trading time for money" trend going...today's anonymous caller traded time for money which included a pension! She wonders if she should take a lump sum or the money monthly...and of course, we have thoughts to help her. I think we have a theme! Trading time for money may not be the best path toward your goals, and today we hope you begin thinking how to exit that approach to life. Thanks for hanging out with us! FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/coach-carson-1408 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you ready to get intimate? Really intimate? Bare it all and totally expose yourself with your partner? We're jumping into financial bed with Erin Skye Kelly to learn about the relationship-saving power of scheduling regular "naked money meetings." Rather than sliding the uncomfortable conversations under the rug, Erin shows us how to confront the topic and overcome you and your partner's money blocks and win together. Take Erin's Naked Money Quiz for free to get real with yourself and face your money blocks. In our headlines segment, we hear about the next best thing since sliced bread...or not...in the form of a spot Bitcoin ETF, possibly coming soon to a broker near you. Bitcoin is an incredible world-changing technology, but does a Bitcoin-based ETF deserve a place in your financial portfolio? We dig in. Doug brings the heat with his old-school gaming-themed trivia question. And Stacker Zachary ("Stackery"?) has a question for us about the worst advertisements ever. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/getting-financially-intimate-with-erin-skye-kelly-1407 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's evergreen Friday roundtable rewind episode from August 21, 2020, we dive into doing financial fitness exercises to build better money habits with the Financially Savvy Latina herself, Natalie Torres-Haddad. Also joining us is Richard Simmons, showing us all the Financial Fitness exercises, opps no it is the creator of the award-winning blog lenpenzo.com, Len Penzo; and our co-host-with-the-most and CFP, OG. You'll want to tune in to reinforce the importance of integrating good money habits (aka the financial fitness exercises) in your life. Plus, our friend, the Evil HR Lady Suzanne Lucas joins us to talk about how to use your vacation days guilt-free. The show originally aired in 2020 so ignore any mention of current events. Check out the original show notes here. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins/friday-roundtable-financial-fitness-rewind Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions about all things financial fitness are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever wonder how real estate investors reach the summit of success? Our friend and regular Friday roundtable contributor, Paula Pant, joined Joe and Crystal Hammond on the most recent episode of our sister show, Stacking Deeds, Building a Strong Real Estate Foundation: Tips for Novice Investors with Paula Pant. Paula opens up to Joe to share her journey from the early days of starting in real estate investing to where she is today. All Stackers can learn valuable lessons about smart real estate investing by tuning into this special rewind episode. Paula's real estate investing course for beginners, Your First Rental Property, is now open for enrollment for a limited time! Take the first step in your real estate investing journey by signing up for Paula's course through our exclusive link, stackingbenjamins.com/paula to get access to Joe's special "Sherlock Holmes sheet," which can help you find extra money in your budget. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/rewind-paula-pant-real-estate-journey-1405 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join us for a special Rewind Week edition as we check in with Crystal Hammond and our sister show geared toward real estate investing, Stacking Deeds! She sits down with the best carpenter in the remodeling business, Mark Ellison, to dive into not just real estate topics, but key takeaways about the importance of relationship-building that you, our Stackers, can apply to your own lives. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/stacking-deeds-020-rewind-1404 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are your household finances running like a well-oiled machine? Does each member of the household know his or her role(s) in reaching your own financial planning strategies? Who's your family's CFO? Who's got the COO role? Joining our roundtable to discuss financial planning strategies, we welcome Lacey Langford from the Military Money Show, PLUTUS award-winner Len Penzo from lenpenzo.com, and our own guy who knows how to run efficient systems, OG. In the second half of the show, our panelists share some of their favorite tools and strategies for maintaining harmony with their partners. What financial planning strategies do they talk about during their family meetings? I mean... they're experts, aren't they? What do THEY do that we can emulate? And finally, you won't want to miss the latest addition to our ongoing year-long quest for trivia supremacy. Sure it may not be financial planning strategies that you'll hear, but WILL be a race to the golden end-of-year trophy. Will Lacey's return be history in the making by helping Team Paula take sole ownership of first place? Will seniority reign supreme in the form of Len reclaiming the lead? Will OG continue his improbable ascension from the depths of the cellar? Three will enter; only one will emerge victorious! FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/family-money-roles-1403 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever wonder what personal finance topics worry everyone else? You're not alone. We all wonder if our view of the world (and personal finance, by extension), are the same that other people hold. That's why today we're live from the floor of the 2023 Podcast Movement Conference with two other great podcasters: Shannah Game from Everyone's Talkin' Money and Paula Pant from Afford Anything. Both Shannah and Paula, along with our own OG share their take on how our audience worries have changed this year. We tackle every personal finance topic from inflation to employment to interest rates...and more. But that's not all of the personal finance fun. We kick it back to Doug, who's holding down the fort in mom's basement for us, with a trivia question that you just might get right... Truly the takeaway from this year's version of what's become an annual episode for us? It's that while personal finance is truly personal, it turns out that the one constant is that the world always is changing, and if something seems like a "sure thing," it's sure to become unsure at some point. In one discussion, the conversation moves to inflation, which three years ago wasn't even on the radar as a hot topic. Today, inflation is driving many of the worries that we have, from interest rates to real estate prices. It's true that the world of personal finance only has a few topics to master, and yet, staying on top of them so that you make better decisions is always more challenging (and yes, sometimes even fun!) than you may think. FULL SHOW NOTES: Add show notes url here. Be sure to please include https://www at the beginning of the show notes url that makes it clickable on YouTube Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is the secret to achieving your financial independence in taking a never-ending sabbatical? We're thrilled to have sisters Sammie and Michelle Varghese to discuss what they've learned about financial independence and how taking time off work can lead to greater things in your life. In addition to financial independence, what other life and/or career goals do you have? How did discovering the FIRE ("Financial Independence, Retire Early") change Sammie and Michelle's trajectory, what can you do to reach financial independence earlier, and what are the benefits to doing so? And how can you get on the fast track to financial independence from only your 9-to-5 job? In our headline segment, we'll help you get closer to the financial independence you seek by sharing some best practices on how to ask for a deferred compensation arrangement - and demonstrate how it's in your employer's best interest to work with you. And in our Haven LifeLine segment, OG's self-restraint skills are put to the test when he answers a Stacker's request for backup to help his friend's mother respond correctly to a financial advisor's questionable recommendation. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/never-ending-sabbatical-Sammie-and-Michelle-Varghese-1401 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Does a hard life automatically mean you're destined to struggle with finances? On today's show, we're all about mindset and how adopting the right mindset can set you on the path to financial success—and how having the wrong money mindset can hinder your financial progress. We're honored to invite Tiffany Grant down to the basement to share her real-life experiences and struggles, and how having the right mindset helped her overcome the early disadvantages. Doc G from The Earn & Invest Podcast joins us to share his formative-years experiences with a hard life, and how his mother's scarcity mindset affected him. And our resident gold bug, Len Penzo joins us to explain why he insists on preparing for economic doomsday by hoarding gold and cash. We discuss the role habits play in mindset formation, as well as the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people and influences. In the second half of the discussion, we dive into how you can make the necessary changes in yourself to improve your life situation. Spoiler alert: gratitude plays a big role in your quality-of-life. And finally, Doug brings the heat with some trivia about a well-known budget-friendly food. With two of our regular contributors MIA, will Len use that to his advantage and inch ahead of Paula Pant? Will our guest of honor flex her budget-friendly food knowledge and give her soul-sister Paula the lead for the first time, I think, ever? Will Doc G throw OG a lifeline and the impetus to start a 4th quarter rally to emerge from the cellar? Three enter, only one will emerge victorious (unless there's another tie). Tune in and find out what everyone many a few nerds will be talking about until next Friday. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/fri-roundtable-mindset-tiffany-grant-1400 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How much is enough? Enough money, enough status, enough possessions, enough leisure? We are happy to welcome Manisha Thakor to the basement to discuss some of the revelations she learned after experiencing what she calls the "cult of never enough." How do we disconnect our personal lives from our work lives? Is a cool $5 million enough to retire on in America? In our headline, we take a peek into the retirement lifestyle of the top 0.1% of households. And in Doug's trivia, he might leave you scratching your head with his question about a symbol that can't be pronounced. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/getting-zen-with-your-money-Manisha-Thakor-1399 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What lessons have you learned from the silver screen? Today we dive into LOTS of great lessons about finance from our favorite films. Joe and OG both prep their top 5 and do not share them with each other until they hit record. Will your favorites make the cut? You're about to find out! Plus, in our headline segment, if you work from home we may have some good news; most companies plan to continue their current work-from-home policies, according to a recent study. What does this mean for your "work-life balance" and about scoring the next raise? We'll share tips to help your career. Of course, we'll share a TikToker with a great idea AND Doug's incredible trivia, and more! FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/top-5-movie-money-lessons-1398 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Where do YOU turn for true financial advice? Your family and friends? A CFP professional? Your bridge club crew? TikTok??? On today's special Friday roundtable episode we're thrilled to have an all-CFP lineup to each give their two cents on where to look for true financial advice. We're happy to welcome back our friend CFP Michael Kitces after a long hiatus; we also welcome back the queen of Sensible Money CFP Dana Anspach; and finally, our in-house CFP OG joins the gang. In the second part of the discussion, our panel shares their take on the positives and negatives of joining a good financial Facebook group; the pros and cons of signing up for financial webinars and masterclasses; and how psychology plays into the right financial plan for you - even when the pure math doesn't make sense. Plus, we dive into the value of surrounding yourself with the right team by creating your personal financial "board of directors." Be sure to stick around at halftime for Doug's trivia all about the business of basketball. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/friday-cfp-roundtable-personal-advice-1397 Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices