Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate Easy

Justin received a settlement at 24 years old from his grandmother’s death from mesothelioma. He had just started dating his now wife (Haley) at the time. Not only did they spend all of it, but they also ended up in debt (although they did put a down payment on a house). Vacations, an engagement ring, a time share, but where did the rest go? They don’t really know. This situation was not sustainabl...

Lauren interviewed the Wealth Building Waiter this week, Adam. He’s a 23-year-old who started in the restaurant business in 2020 and has worked his way up. Adam worked 6 days a week for years as a server and just recently transitioned to 3 night per week to spend more time on real estate: being a Director of a Housing program, managing and rehabbing properties, being on the board of his HOA, and b...

Today, Lauren interviewed the team from Nexus. Konstantin started investing 10 years ago. You get more from your money when you invest it vs let it sit in a bank account. He’s become fascinated by the numbers behind investing. When it comes to the culture around investing, many people think investing is inherently complicated. Index funds are not complicated and are a great place for new investors...

CJ “walked on” to the NFL when he went undrafted, so Lauren of course had to ask him about that experience. They quickly transition to talking real estate. He house hacked twice to start, once with a duplex and once with a triplex. As a reminder, house hacking is when you buy a property, live in part of it and rent the rest out. He dipped his toe into short-term rentals with the triplex because it...

Change of pace this week! Lauren interviewed Clint Murphy to celebrate the 100th episode of his podcast, the Growth Guide. The two discussed success mindsets and a bunch of other topics, since the two know each other very well from doing live Twitter Spaces weekly for an entire year. This episode is being posted on both feeds today. Huge congrats to Clint and the Growth Guide team on hitting this...

Imagine slowly losing one of your senses. For 10 years, you know your time is limited with this sense you were born with but are destined to lose. That’s what happened (and is still happening) to Adam of the Blind Luck Project. Adam is kind enough to detail what it’s been like losing his vision. It’s an emotional conversation, but of course Lauren and Adam do talk about how Adam is making the best...

This real estate investing journey started when Mike and his wife bought a house in Florida from Ohio, and started short-term renting it to friends and family only in between using it themselves. Then, the family moved to North Carolina for work. Mike got fired while his daughter was in high school. His wife also got fired. They moved into the Florida house for a short time. Now scrambling a bit,...

Athena got into the personal finance content creation world to help the Latina community (and everyone) learn along with her. She’s passionate about helping her community because of the wage and income gaps present. Athena discusses the importance of diversifying income streams, as well as her investment portfolio. Since she literally wrote the (for dummies) book on budgeting, of course Lauren and...

Lauren starts by asking Suni about what it was like to compete in the Olympics. Then, they move onto a gut wrenching aha moment at the corporate job. Everyone around her was making more and doing less! Cue the personal finance wind tunnel. Suni is still working on balance, after growing up working extra hard as an athlete. She breaks down her 10 doors and reminds us you don’t have to grow for the...

Sean got into personal finance when a boss told him to focus on his retirement. Even though he was just out of college, he listened! He and his wife have been invested every 2 weeks for almost 9 years. They’re more than set for retirement at this point. Lauren and Sean talked about maxing your match in your 401k vs maxing the match. The Wealth Dad broke down stocks, index funds, and ETFs, and why...

James has 2 deaf parents, and he thought other families talked about money (which probably wasn’t true). So, he started researching money and found the FIRE movement. He grew up in near poverty (my word, not his), and decided he wanted his financial future to be different than his past. James knew the best way was real estate. He and his wife, Emily, were able to retire with 10 doors. It only took...

Danny started his career in investment banking. His wife was a lawyer. This was NOT conducive to the life they wanted to live. Lauren interviews Danny about side hustling, using Amazon FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) to leave his 9-5. Rather than take on flipping product full time though, he sold that business. Between that sale and real estate, his family is financial free and expanding - the two welco...

Bernadette (Bernadebt?) Joy went from being in debt to crushing her money goals and now she helps others too! She tells Lauren how cutting too much from your budget can be unsustainable. You must think about your mental health. A lot of people in debt suffer in silence, and it shouldn't be that way. It’s normal to take on debt for things, like houses, cars, and school. What would your life loo...

Danny Rusteen wrote the book on hosting. Actually, he’s written 2 of them. According to him, living in Airbnbs is a life hack, it actually makes your life less complicated. That’s why he does it! Lauren has been rotating among her own units for years. This is a good thing – hosts should stay in their places at least a couple of times per year, according to Danny. He suggests spending time in the t...

The American Dream fails people. There are other ways to make the dream happen though. Devon Kennard talks about the grueling NFL schedule and fitting in writing a book as he creates his own America Dream. Did you know they do 50-60 hours per week, plus playing on Sundays? We talked about how much NFL players really make after taxes and for how long they usually make it. The average career is 3.5...

Brandon is a fellow house hacker from the Tampa Bay area. As a reminder, house hacking is when you buy a property, live in part of it and rent the rest out. Lauren and Brandon discuss the pros of house hacking, like living for free! Brandon tells a cautionary tale about buying a place with a lot of DIY from the previous owner. This is an initial purchase horror story that STILL worked out – bad ro...

Forget passive income, find passionate income? OK, OK, you can do both. This week, Lauren is bringing you her interview with Brian Luebben. They talked about what financial freedom is, and Brian firmly believes the best way to get there is through passionate income. You must figure out what fires you up, and what you want to spend your time doing. And once 50% of your time is spent on your side hu...

Bryce Garcia has an interesting take on house hacking. He moves our of his primary home so short-term rental guests can stay there. In Austin, TX, where Bryce lives, stays can be shorter than 30 days if it’s your home. Moving out of your STR for guests is a type of sweat equity, according to Bryce. What do you think? He touches on having mentors, networking, meeting people, anf forming your person...

Decade Investor aka Kolin drops dozens of gems in this week's interview. As a 24-year-old with a $250,000 stock portfolio, he knows all about slow and steady investing. Lauren and Kolin go over the 8th (or is it 1st?) wonder of the world, compound interest, with real-life examples. No matter your age. whether you're in your 20s or 50s, you'll walk away motivated to start investing, eve...

Cost segregation is about bringing depreciation forward, and it is literally in the tax code. It’s basically an engineering study, but don't worry! Yonah demystifies it. Owners hire someone, like Yonah's firm, to categorize expenses. Depending on the category, depreciation schedules vary. Short-term rentals offer a unique opportunity for owners, if they’re materially participating, to take...

Why do we make comparisons? Lauren and Katie talk about comparing yourself to others, how to avoid it and use it for motivation, and remind us all to forgive ourselves when we do this. They talk keeping up with the Jones, when the Joneses are your friends. You want to be happy for your friends, but it might take effort. The right comparison to yourself is you in the past. Remember the social media...

This week, Lauren brings you her interview with Dave aka Side Hustle Houses. The two cover the differences between investing in real estate in the US and England. There are some natural differences, like financing, but there are many similarities as well. It sounds like real estate investing is not as "main stream" across the pond as it is in the US. Dave found his "tribe" of fellow real estate in...

This week, Lauren brings you her interview with Pete Reese. Lauren learned that you can invest in real estate by flipping land. Mind blown. And get this – land can be flipped within a shorter period of time than you think. Pete talks through the business model and how it’s systematized. They started with $100,000. He talks numbers and details of their deals, like how they aim for 50% gross margins...

This week, Lauren brings you her interview with Dividend Dream. The two discuss what dividends and stocks are, PADI (Predicted Annual Dividend Income), DRIP (investing dividends in the same stock the dividends are from), dividend increases, dividend yield, payout ratios, and more. Lauren just had to ask about dividend aristocrats and dividend kings. Lauren learned what dividend contenders are! If...

This week, Lauren brings you her interview with Jeff Higgins, a fellow Floridian. Lauren self-manages her rentals, while having a full-time job. She often gets asked how she does it. Then she heard that Jeff has 87 units, both in Massachusetts and Florida, and she had to know what that was like. Jeff has some strong opinions about managing your own properties (you should) and property managers (th...