Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate Easy

Dan went to college for finance. He got into real estate when the company he worked for after college committed massive fraud. Dan saw what his colleagues were going through who relied on their sales income to live when that income was torn out from under them. Dan became interested in the financial independence movement. He learned that with real estate, a tenant can pay down your mortgage every...

Are people more stressed than they used to be? Yes! Some of it has to do with awareness because of how much information we have access to. Naturally, we as humans are affected by our environment. Our stressors aren’t as obvious as they once were, i.e. email vs predator. Lauren asked about the difference between stress and anxiety. While stress hormones are necessary for survival, we’re really over...

Adam started coaching over 20 years ago. He bridges the gap between financial advisors and therapists. Money can bring up feelings of fear, guilt, and shame. It’s OK to get help from others to summon courage. Ask yourself what your feelings are. What is coming up for you, even listening to this episode? You could also do journaling. It’s especially important to recognize shame, anxiety, and avoida...

Josh’s partner, Antoinette, got him into real estate investing. As a professional referee, he was very focused on his career, but he got involved in the real estate business during Covid. Antoinette’s background is in a sales career, and Josh actually motivated her to follow her dreams like he had. When Lauren asks Josh about their “why,” he makes a great point that your why may change over time....

Lauren starts by asking Ruthie how you inherit a property. It’s important to have a plan for your assets. You can leave property to others through a will or trust. Another way is from rule of law. It sounds like you should choose the will or trust route. There are some obvious benefits from inheriting a property. You don’t have to come up with the money and go through the process of buying one! Un...

It's that time of year. Time to look back on Adulting Is Easy's FOURTH full year of podcasting. (BLOOPERS at the end)         Audience: more than doubled again; getting more than 2000 listens per month, and almost 40k in total About the listeners: 81% from the US (83% last year) Others: Canada, UK, South Africa, Australia, Cambodia, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Mexico, Sudan, Switzerland,...

Note: Tom had some internet issues early on in the interview, sorry about that! Lauren kicks off by asking what the difference is between a financial advisor and a financial planner. Interestingly, they can be very different or very similar. Tom thinks anyone who panicked during the toilet paper shortage should have a financial planner (those that panic!). Also, he thinks people with complicated p...

Rachael starts by discussing what financial independence is: being work optional. You’ve built up enough assets that they provide you enough income that you no longer need to work. But what if you like working? You don’t have to have traditional financial goals of completely stopping work at any point. Lauren points out that your feelings about work may change, and you should be ready if that happ...

Brad Freeman aptly named his company Stock Market Nerd because that’s certainly what he is – in a good way! Brad is fascinated with stocks because you can be wrong a lot and still be very successful. He believes in leaving no stone unturned when it comes to researching stocks. It’s a little obsessive actually. For him, knowledge is both power and comfort. Researching stocks to try to outperform th...

Trina graduated from college in 2009, and there were not very many jobs available. She continued working in the service industry when she graduated. Trina loved gardening in her own yard, so her customers started asking her to plant their own flowers. Her first year (Apr-Jun), she generated $10,000 in revenue. She decided that the following year, when she turned 30, she’d be full-time. She met her...

Since Brett bought his first house in 2022 and his first investment property in 2023, Lauren had to ask about investing in this current environment. Brett did this deal with his grandparents, and it was a great entry point for all of them! Interestingly, the deal is out of state for all of them. Brett breaks down his numbers of his first (primary) home, a townhome. Then, the two transition to brea...

Lauren opens by asking the obvious question, as she often does: what’s a mobile home? Rachel touches on the history of mobile homes and manufactured homes. They started as a home for rich people to take with them on their vacations! Now, they’re not moved very often in their lifetimes. They’re usually set on blocks, wheels removed, and hitches removed. Rachel points out that since 1976, HUD got in...

Bonds are like IOU’s issued by governments and companies. They usually come in denominations of $1,000 with different interest rates (coupons). As yields (rates) on bonds increase, existing bond prices decrease. David (Uncommon Yield) breaks all thismdown and more for Lauren. Then, they get into the importance of the 2-year and 10-year treasury rates, and what it means when the 2-year is higher th...

In honor of both our 150th Adulting Is Easy podcast episode, our 4th podversary (which was Oct 29), AND Halloween we're replaying our most popular episode from 2022. Even if you listened to it last year, you may want to check it out again. Joe is a great STR operator and we're sure you'll get something great from this one, even on a second listen! This week, Lauren interviews Joe about...

Where better to kick off this interview than talking about what investing is? Mark talks about the difference between investing and gambling or speculating. He also goes into the foundation that should be set before investing. So, your personal finances need to be in order first! It’s important to take into account your risk tolerance, goals, and time horizon(s). Sometimes, though, you don’t know...

Alan grew up with public school teachers as parents, so he saw wealth as a child, but he never had any. That’s why he wanted to have a million bucks by 30 – and write a book about it! He started this journey right after college, at the age of 21 or 22. Alan’s first step was to live off a small percent of what he was making. How did he save so much? He “hid” money from himself by having his HR depa...

What started as a conversation about buying a vacation home led to the realization that they couldn’t even afford a vacation! This week, Lauren interviews the Debt Free Guys, David and John, about their journey of getting out of debt, which leads to a whole conversation about their journey to becoming the Debt Free Guys, which wonderfully includes house hacking. The first step, once they realized...

Chris Campbell has 12 credit cards – more than even fit in his wallet! Lauren asked about the difference between rewards, cash back, and travel points. Chris is a big fan of travel rewards credit cards because you basically get a better return on your spending, more than you’d get with cash back, up to 3x times more! According to Chris, you can routinely get 6% back rather than the normal 1-1.5% c...

Lauren had to start by asking about his entrepreneurial journey to date, which is extensive even though he’s only 24. Andres’s drive may have simply continued when he quit baseball after taking it very seriously for 14 years. That’s when he was introduced to the world of sneaker sales. While still in college, he created a company flipping sneakers. It was a “very profitable 8 months” before the st...

Jo has been in the short-term rental space for 8 years. He’s done both arbitrage (renting a unit from a landlord on a long-term basis and listing the unit as a short-term rental) and property management. Get this – Jo charges 20% of the NET INCOME for his PM services. The meat and potatoes of the conversation shifts to the “Airbnbust.” Jo goes into detail about his entrepreneurial ventures, includ...

Lauren and Dave start by discussing some mistakes he made early on in his investing career. It started out OK. He was into the book The Wealthy Barber. He actually started investing religiously at 19 years old! Once he got out of college, he started raiding that investment account. So, that was the first big mistake. The second one was marrying the right person who encouraged Dave to draw down his...

This week, Lauren interviews the Budgetdog himself, Brennan Schlagbaum. Brennan talks about parenthood and gets into what it’s like to parent a special needs child. Brennan and his wife Erin have an almost-2-year-old with Dravet syndrome. One theme woven throughout is the importance of having time, money, and health at the same time. Then, the two focus on the topic at hand: investing for your kid...

According to Chris (and probably all STR hosts really), your cleaner is your most important team member. With a low performing cleaner, you’ll have a low performing property. Chris outlines 5 ways to find cleaners: 1) messaging other hosts on Airbnb, 2) searching online and reading through websites, 3) drive around at check out time and talk to cleaners, 4) local investor groups, like on social me...

Eric started his first business at 19 years old. He tried a bunch of different jobs before that, like factory work and landscaping, so he knew what he wanted out of a job. Turns out, freedom really is the best part of being an entrepreneur. You can start working at 5:30 am, or even start the day off with a walk! Eric takes issue with the quick entrepreneurship tips he sees online. Does $10k per mo...

Lauren and Paul talked about what it was like to work at Airbnb when the startup environment had so much money flowing through it. They touched on the short-term effects of Covid, as well as the longer-term ones. It seems like there’s more curiosity from the general public. Of course, they had to touch on the “Airbnbust” idea. Some areas are certainly becoming oversaturated. Paul gives great advic...