Check Your Balances

Are you one of the many people who feel they got a late start saving for their future?  In this episode, we discuss how to approach your finances if you fall into that camp.  Ross also gets a rare message of support for one of his unpopular opinions.   Send your questions to checkyourbalances@outlook.com . Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @che...

Is it possible to boil your financial planning down to a single critical number? In this week's episode, Ross and Dan try to get to the bottom of that question. Send your questions and thoughts on rice cakes to checkyourbalances@outlook.com . Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourbalances on Instagram

Ready for a financial planning throwdown?  Ross and Dan go head to head as they debate heated topics in financial planning.  Friend of the show Matt Trogdon joins as moderator.  In the episode Dan made reference to a book, but forgot the name.  It was The Outsiders by William N. Thorndike, Jr., which tells the story of 8 unconventional CEOs and how their approach to capital allocation led to their...

Washington Post reporter Andrea Sachs  joins the show to talk about what is going on in the travel market today, and where the deals still exist if you're looking. In an era where everybody seems to want travel built into their financial plan, we thought it was important to share. Send your questions on personal finance, investing, or business to the show at checkyourbalances@outlook.com . Se...

On this week's episode we discuss our feelings for Jimmy Buffet's music and review our thoughts on App Economy Insight's article, How To Handle Big Losers . Submit questions for the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com to have Ross and Dan weigh in! Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourbalances on Instagram

We celebrate Independence Day with a breakdown of how we define 5 (or is it 6?) levels of financial freedom. Our simple to understand framework should apply to wherever you are in your financial life today and give you a target for how to get to the next step. Submit questions for the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com to have Ross and Dan weigh in! Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upco...

How can approaching things with a "scout mindset" make us better investors?  Ross and Dan discuss their takeaways from Julia Galef's book The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't . Shoot a note to checkyourbalances@outlook.com with any questions, comments, or jokes for the team! Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbal...

It feels like just yesterday we were talking about what was in the first SECURE act, and now we get to talk about the sequel. Ross and Dan talk about what is expected (and stupid) in the current proposals. Send your questions to checkyourbalances@outlook.com  to have them answered on our air!  Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourbalance...

Ross and Dan recap their takeaways from last week's Financial Planning Association conference.  In particular they cover two strategies that can help avoid capital gains tax: upstream gifting, and the qualified small business stock exclusion. E-mail your questions or thoughts for Ross and Dan to checkyourbalances@outlook.com ! Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyou...

Do you share the same financial concerns as Cardi B? We think you might. This week's show addresses a 20:1 stock split and how negative the overall sentiment seems right now. The chart Ross references in the show can be seen here . E-mail your questions for Ross and Dan to checkyourbalances@outlook.com to have them weigh in! Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourb...

Ross and Dan dive into the mailbag for this episode.  They tackle a listener question on how to think about inherited assets as well as the strategies for saving money on behalf of your kids.  E-mail your questions for the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com . We're YouTubers ! Smash that subscribe button to check out our video content. Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show...

This week Dan and Ross consider whether life insurance could act as a safe haven in what we're calling the "Nowhere to hide" market. And we also answer a listener question about where to focus savings. E-mail your questions for the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com . YouTube Channel coming soon...  Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlo...

This week, we are joined by our old friend Robert "Bro" Brokamp, from Motley Fool's Rule Your Retirement service.  Tune is as we talk financial calculators, financial therapy, and more!  Test out CalcXML's retirement calculator by clicking here . Join Robert Brokamp's Rule Your Retirement Service here . Shoot us an email with your personal finance and investing questions a...

This week, Nick Maggiulli joins the podcast to talk about his new book Just Keep Buying: Proven Ways to Save Money and Build Your Wealth . He's also the author of the blog Of Dollars and Data , and the Chief Operations Officer at Ritholtz Wealth Management. We are thrilled to have Nick join us! Shoot us an email with your personal finance and investing questions at checkyourbalances@outlook.c...

Inspired by the story of Fred Smith gambling to save FedEx early on, Ross and Dan explore scenarios where wrong financial decisions may have positive outcomes. Send questions for the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com to be featured on the show. Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourbalances on Instagram

Market got you down? Ross and Dan kick around positive actions that you can (potentially) take in a negative market. Send questions for the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com to be featured on the show (and get a CYB mug!). Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourbalances on Instagram

On this episode, Ross and Dan are joined by Anna Helhoski - Nerdwallet's authority on Student Loans.    Read more from Anna by visiting her Nerdwallet profile here: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/author/anna/ Email us at  checkyourbalances@outlook.com if you have any questions or comments for the show! Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @c...

This week we're calling it a rant episode. Ross and Dan take on some very broad tax advice being given out on social media, and debate whether you should get excited about stock splits. Submit your financial planning questions to checkyourbalances@outlook.com to be featured on the show! Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourbalances...

Our former colleague, the recently retired, Sean Gates, joins us to talk about his journey. Sean has embraced the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) movement for his entire career and has just recently made the transition out of full time work. Hear more about his story on this week's show. To submit your personal finance questions or thoughts tot he show, email us at checkyourbalance...

This week we are joined by George Mason University professor Dr. Lawrence White. Dr. White has spent his academic career studying monetary systems, banking, and more recently cryptocurrencies. He joins the show to share what is going on in the space and how crypto is being used. Submit your questions for the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com to have a question featured! Send us Fan Mail Send y...

Inspired by Dan Pink's new book The Power of Regret , Ross and Dan reflect on how regret has played a part in their financial planning practice. Also, Dan shaved his beard and head to support St. Baldrick's Foundation . Send us your questions and thoughts to checkyourbalances@outlook.com ! Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourb...

Resident "engaged guy" Matt Trogdon joins the show to talk about how he and his fiancée are dealing with combining finances.    Send your questions for the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com .  Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourbalances on Instagram

Ross sold his home recently and details what an exploration of the iBuying process was like. A farewell episode to "Dirty Mike and the Boys." Send your questions for the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com .  Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com @checkyourbalances on Instagram

Of course more money is better than less money (unless you ask Biggie, in which case mo money is mo problems), but how much can a shift in salary impact your retirement trajectory?  Ross and Dan create a scenario for their made up client, Janice McExample, to see how it plays out. Email us at  checkyourbalances@outlook.com if you have any questions for the show! Send us Fan Mail Send your question...

Elon Musk has been in the news for giving away Tesla stock, and the news presented an interesting slant on Donor Advised Funds (DAF). Ross and Dan weigh in with their take on why DAF accounts can be a powerful planning tool and how you might consider using them. Submit questions to the show to checkyourbalances@outlook.com ! Send us Fan Mail Send your questions for upcoming show to checkyourbalanc...