BiggerPockets Money Podcast

Over at BiggerPockets, we all have much love and respect for our trusted video editor, Joel Esparza. He brings phenomenal work quality, timing, and communication to every project he’s on, but many of us don’t know his inspiring and truly impressive backstory. Joel is originally from Venezuela, which has experienced rampant inflation over the past decade putting its citizens in economic turmoil. Jo...

It didn’t take Addison Freeman long to realize what worked in school, wouldn’t work in real life. Those who got good grades and followed the standard playbook weren’t rewarded as plentifully on the investing front as they were in the classroom. When Addison realized it would take her over thirty years to hit millionaire status on the conventional track, she knew she needed a change. Addison starte...

Strong frugality is hard to come by. Not many people would write off their solar system as a business expense and use bitcoin mining to provide heat to their house, instead of using a space heater. These are just two things that Yourri, an engineer and diversification whiz, has done to make his balance sheet as optimized as possible. Yourri has spent the better part of the last decade at school an...

High-income earners have a better shot at retiring early than those making a median income.  That being said, with more money comes more investing risk. After the great recession, Bob Haines was sitting on a $300,000 loss from leveraging too many properties to flip. This put the possibility of retiring early multiple years behind. But, even with a money mistake as large as Bob’s, he’s been able to...

A rock-solid financial position consists of a few things: budgeting, expense tracking, living below your means, and making extra income. Once those are accomplished, you’re on track to start investing heavily and financial independence is in sight. This is exactly the position Lynsey (mother to Mindy’s pool boy) is in. Lynsey and her husband bring in a moderate salary from his job and her business...

Life can be challenging at times. When you think you’re in a stable spot, the universe tends to throw you one (or many) curveballs. In the realm of financial education, the smart early decisions we make can help alleviate the stress of these curveballs. This has happened almost to the tee for today’s guest, Karen Ferrero. Karen grew up in a small town to a middle-class family. She was a first-gene...

Kari and her wife made some big moves over the past few years. They packed up their stuff and left the San Francisco Bay Area for a relocation in the midwest. Unlike the Bay Area, the Midwest has many affordable housing options with plenty of chances to house hack. So, that’s exactly what the couple did! They bought a duplex in rough condition, put in close to $80,000 of renovations, and now get $...

Not everyone has the vagabond spirit of those who choose to optionally live out of their cars, trucks, or vans. While this isn’t up Scott and Mindy’s alley, it’s been perfectly fine for today’s guests Tien and Brandon. After deciding to end their lease before a road trip, Tien and Brandon found living in their specialty-built van wasn’t just habitable, but preferable for their lifestyle. This was...

Retiring early can be a daunting task. Not only do you have to do more, with less time, but you have to stay diligent on your budgeting, expense tracking, and investing if you want to hit your goal by a certain age. Today we talk to Lisa, who wants to retire next year, in her mid-50s. While most people think early retirement means retiring in your 20s and 30s, this isn’t necessarily true. Retiring...

Most college students know next to nothing about money. Even worse, many of them sign on to expensive student loans with almost no plan on how they’re going to pay it back. While this is the average, some people, like Nathan Kennedy, host of The New Money Podcast, did things differently. Although he overspent a bit going out in college, Nathan graduated with a degree and $40,000 in cash, a MASSIVE...

“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” This is the topic of today’s episode, where we interview Jenny for a Finance Friday review. Jenny is finishing up her fourth degree and has been working throughout grad school to help her family. Her husband brings in a sizable income, but he wants to retire in 2030 and spend more time with their (future) kids.  Jenny has great cont...

What do you think of when you think about retirement? Are you on a tropical island drinking fruity cocktails out of a coconut? If you dream about that sort of retirement, Steve Adcock may have some revealing words for you. Retirement isn’t just about doing nothing all day, it’s about exploring your passions, and sometimes working more than you did before, to accomplish things that truly matter to...

Sometimes having a lot of cash can be dangerous. Would you rather be sitting on months (or even years) worth of emergency reserves or have your money be challenging inflation by sitting in investments like index funds or real estate? This is the question that many people have, and also one that today’s guest, Phil, is having as well. Phil and his wife live in a relatively low cost area and bring i...

A lot of people in the financial independence community successfully get out of debt, but not many of them get out of debt and then start a monthly six-figure side business. One person who has done that is Deacon Hayes. Deacon was raised by a single mother on welfare who taught Deacon that debt was a way of life. When Deacon married his wife, they both collectively realized that the only way for t...

Making too much money is a good problem to have, and it’s one that many people in the Bay Area experience. Today we talk to Laurin, a mother of two, making $281,000 a year when combining her salary with her husband’s. They’re doing everything right: paying off the mortgage, contributing to their 401(k)s, and saving up for an emergency reserve.  With all these investments and income, Laurin is wond...

Dee Olateru doesn’t have the traditional FI story, but it didn’t take her long to catch onto the concepts that now allow her to live a life exactly how she sees fit. Dee immigrated to the United States from Nigeria when she was sixteen. Without the ability to get student loans, Dee had to work throughout school, apply for every scholarship available, and borrow money from friends and family to pay...

Investments galore! This week, we talk to Jeana and Scott, a couple with a hefty amount of investments under their belt. We know what you’re thinking, “what type of stocks and real estate are they investing in?” This is where you might be surprised. Jeana and Scott are investing in three gyms, a gas and oil investment, a documentary, a 24-unit apartment building, a 52-unit apartment building, a se...

Darius Smith always knew how to make money, but wasn’t very good at saving it. Growing up, he had jobs ranging from delivering phone books, to running paper routes, to even putting up eviction notices on homes. He opened his first bank account when he was around nine years old! So how did Darius end up with almost $170,000 in debt? An even better question may be, how did Darius pay off all that de...

Entrepreneurs work long, stressful hours, and as a result, they get paid the big bucks. This is the position that Stephanie, a freelance Salesforce consultant is in. She makes a respectable income, bringing in $14,000 after tax! But, that income comes at a cost. While Stephanie is currently contracting out work to a few part-time employees, she spends at least 50 hours per week on the business. Sh...

You may have heard the term “real estate syndication” thrown out quite a lot over the past few years. It seems like almost every real estate investor is either starting a real estate syndication or investing in one. So what’s all the hype about? Is this an investment opportunity that you’re missing out on, and if so, is it truly passive as many people claim? We’ve brought the master flipper, rehab...

Combining finances can be complicated, but what’s even more complicated is combining one salary with two inconsistent business accounts. How do you manage the household’s budget when you don’t know what will be coming in every month? This is the question Roshan and her husband have for us today. Roshan works as a teacher making a very steady income and has access to retirement plans like her pensi...

Rahkim Sabree “aspired to be poor” when he was growing up. He saw his parents collecting section 8 housing vouchers, getting food stamps, and thought that this was the way life was. He didn’t grow up around many homeowners. All of his friends lived in apartment rentals and were in the same financial situation as him. There were no “financial literacy talks” at Rahkim's dinner table. It wasn’t unti...

Amanda is making a teacher’s salary and spending her weekends working a part-time job at a grocery store. She contributes to her retirement accounts, but she could be sitting on a passive income gold mine that she doesn’t realize.  Attached to Amanda’s home are a casita and a mother-in-law suite. The casita is rented out to long-term tenants and the mother-in-law suite has been used as a short-ter...

After years and years of working in licensing, Diania Merriam opened up her credit report and saw that she was (collectively) $30,000 in debt. This forced her to ask the question, “what am I working for?” It made sense at the moment: you get your paycheck, you can go out to a fancy dinner, you get another paycheck, you can buy yourself something nice. But Diania wasn’t happy, or at least as happy...

It’s hard to imagine what someone is going through once they’re given a cancer diagnosis. The last thing many people want to think about during such a troubling time is finances. This was true for Zachary, who’s combined net worth with his partner more than doubled while he was supporting her throughout her chemotherapy and cancer surgeries. Even though it was a medically troubling year, Zachary a...