Build A Wealthy Spirit

This Valentine's Day Episode is for our single listeners and their busybody friends (you know who you are)! Oz Chen is a personal finance writer who decided to take his dating life out of the hands of Tinder, Hinge and Bumble. Instead of depending on the apps to match him with his soulmate, he took a couple creative turns. He created a "matchmaking program" which was a guide for his...

How do you manage your social media usage? Have anyone completely given it up? Show Notes: Your phone is trying to control your life on PBS with Tristan Harris  Center for Humane Technology  The Top 100 Most Valuable Brands in 2024 by Visual Capitalist  Deep Work by Cal Newport  Cashing Out by Julien and Kiersten Saunders Community Time Thank you Nate Bleadorn for your thoughts on our most recent...

Outside of exercise, the primary goal of my sabbatical is to build community. When I was working, I never had time to meet people and build deep relationships.  Since we are making friends, Michelle and I have been hosting and attending a lot of gatherings. We have found Priya Parker’s tool of having a deep purpose very helpful in creating events that deepen relationships.  Having a purpose for a...

Going into 2023, Harris Jones had an impressive work resume. She was the third employee at RehabWallet, a successful real estate startup but she was unsatisfied with how she spent her time after work.  She was a self proclaimed quiet and meek person, nervous to speak at the real estate events she attended for her work. However, she knew she enjoyed the events and wanted to shift from outside viewe...

One silver lining of COVID is that it gave me a new appreciation for in-person gatherings. As much as online meetings can help connect when we cannot meet in person, there is nothing that compares to IRL meetings.  Last weekend, Michelle and I attended CAMP FI in Florida. There were 80+ FI/RE lovers present at a summer-camp style venue with speakers, break-out sessions, outdoor activities- kayakin...

With tax advantaged accounts, when it clicks, it's easy to become obsessed with all the ways you can use these money vehicles to build wealth!  However, it's not always easy to understand! What is Roth? How much should you *really* invest in your 401K?  This episode is our guide to the basics of tax-advantaged accounts. This includes, what they are, how much to consider investing and why M...

Michelle and I like to use Charlie Gilkey’s Four Project Rule from his book Start Finishing to help create our yearly resolution. Charlie recommends limiting yourself to no more than four projects a quarter. He includes things like moving and starting a new job as a project as they require a significant portion of our time. These projects can be re-visited every quarter. Projects that become syste...

We have been hearing from a lot of listeners that they are planning to join the “sabaddie” crew and are going to leave their jobs in 2024.  Other people have expressed concerns that there may be lay-offs at their job and they want to be prepared.  Regardless of the reason for leaving our job, there are steps we can take to prepare for our departure to make this process smoother.  Pick a date I ini...

Nick Gray, author of the The 2-Hour Cocktail Party, joins us today to talk about the best way to make friends as an adult, throw a party with new and old friends! If that sounds scary, Sammie and Michelle can relate. Luckily, Nick literally wrote the book on throwing the perfect party. On this episode we discuss the challenges of making friends as an adult, why cocktail (or mocktail) parties are a...

Growing up, I never thought I would leave the workforce and spend my time doing things I love. I had no comprehension of ideas like financial independence, early retirements, or sabbaticals. The paths I saw were laid out in straight lines and cheat codes did not exist.  Reflecting on our journey, Michelle and I realize we have made some unconventional decisions that have given us financial abundan...

This week, Michelle and I discuss the five love languages and how to choose a gift for each person based on their love language. We also share tips for gift-giving for each love language. For example, for someone who loves gifts the packaging can make the whole gift. A beautifully wrapped gift says I came here to give this gift to you, whereas a present in a grocery bag says I thought about this l...

The end of the year is a busy time with multiple holidays, end-of-year deadlines at work, and family gatherings. With all the hustle and bustle, we often neglect our end-of-year financial tasks. This week Michelle and I created a five-step money checklist for the end of the year.  5 Essential Year-End Money Must-Dos  Max out/contribute to your tax-advantaged accounts  Sign up for Health Care and m...

Sammie and Michelle take a look at gratitude with a twist, specifically how you can use gratitude to manifest more abundance into your life. Let us know your thoughts at buildawealthyspirit.com ! --- AirHelp is our partner for this episode! We’ve been huge fans of them because they are so easy to work and solve a problem almost anyone who flies encounters. We’re talking about canceled flights or o...

Taking a break from work might seem like an easy thing to do, but anyone who has taken a sabbatical can speak to the surprising changes that occur when we leave traditional work.  The Seven Habits of a Highly Effective Sabbatical Prioritize Quality Sleep  Maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine Form a meditative spiritual practice Foster an Abundance mindset Practice Self Compassion Limit you...

See here for full show notes The financial independence number is the amount of money a person needs to retire or not work again. Using information from the Trinity study, linked in the show notes below, we can find out our FI number by taking our annual spending and multiplying by 25. I’ve found knowing my FI number incredibly motivating in saving and knowing what my financial goals are. Michelle...

In November 2021, Michelle and I came up with a concept called “Death Clock”. We were driving back from my job interview in the middle of the desert when we started pondering scenarios involving our own mortality. If we had a timer next to our head that said we only had ten more years to live, would we change anything? If the timer said five years or one year, what would change?  This thought expe...

We are excited to revisit one of our most popular episodes and a topic we love, Deprogramming from the Corporate Mindset . How fun to share it with our spooky October theme song as well.  Leave a comment at buildawealthyspirit.com When Michelle left her sales job, she knew she wanted to take some time off and eventually start more creative projects. Her days felt fulfilling and in alignment, she w...

Budgeting, or planning how your dollars are going to be spent in the future, is more tricky than simply tracking each expense. I’ve always marveled at zero-based budgeting software like YNAB, You Need a Budget. With YNAB, you take every dollar from your income and assign it to a job. Some money gets set aside for rent, groceries, savings, etc. However, as someone with a high savings rate, zero-bas...

What are you telling the universe? If the universe sent a little scribe down to record everything you are thinking and doing, what would this log look like? Imagine if a genie could turn that story into reality – would this story bring you satisfaction? If you continue doing the same actions that you are doing today, what will be the end result? These thoughts and actions become our reality, so we...

Feeling anxious about starting Student Loan Payments?  Feeling confused by all the new SAVE plan changes?  If yes, this is the episode for you! Becca Baldauf a CPA and Certified College Financial Consultant with Student Loan Planner joins us to have a conversation on Student Loans. Starting October 2023, student loan payments resume. President Biden has also recently launched the SAVE plan which h...

If you've struggled to build a community or create meaningful friendships as an adult, this is a great episode for you! The headlines are clear: there is a "friendship recession" a "loneliness epidemic" that is plaguing the United States. So much so that the US Surgeon General has declared it as an official loneliness epidemic. Sammie and Michelle are diving into how to bu...

Do you have a scarcity mindset? What is a scarcity mindset and could it be holding you back? This week, Sammie and Michelle dive into scarcity mindsets, including the limiting beliefs that have been holding them back recently. They also dive into how to move out of the scarcity loop into the abundance loop so that you can break the generational curse that is a scarcity mindset.  AirHelp: Partner F...

Moving is rarely a 100% smooth process. Sammie and Michelle made another big change in their life and moved from the west coast to the east coast of the United States. So they are delving into how to move across the country without losing your sanity.  Between the two of them, they've moved across states over ten times and have done the budget friendly version and a more hybrid DIY + higher s...

Is something holding you back from your next adventure? Sammie and Michelle reflect on what it means to go on an adventure and what prevents us from taking the next step when adventure calls. Let us know your thoughts at buildawealthyspirit.com Partner for this episode: AirHelp Have you had a frustrating flight delay or cancellation in the past three years? I have! I was so excited to find AirHelp...

Are your team habits good or bad? Often times, we haven't asked ourselves this question, but habits exist within teams whether or not we are aware of them. Small bad habits can ruin morale and lead to people leaving. Luckily, Charlie Gilkey joins us on the podcast to discuss lessons from his new book, Team Habits . We cover why team habits matter, how to create a feeling of belonging within y...