Inside Out Money

Donor-advised funds are no longer just a secret tax strategy for billionaires; they are one of the most powerful tools we can use to supercharge our charitable giving while significantly lowering our tax bills. We explain how a donor-advised fund works like a retirement account for your generosity—allowing you to donate appreciated stock, skip the capital gains taxes, take an immediate tax deducti...

Financial overwhelm carries a heavy mental and physical weight that can easily paralyze us into avoiding our money altogether. We share a practical six-step game plan to break the cycle of financial stress, starting with pressing a physical reset button and clearing the visual and digital clutter from your workspace. We explore how to overcome analysis paralysis by picking just one small win to bu...

Emotional spending is a challenge we all face, especially as we strive to simplify our lives and own fewer possessions. We explore the neuroscience of shopping dopamine, René Girard's theory of mimetic desire, and why choosing the right financial role models matters so much during a spendy holiday season. By putting space between our impulses and our purchases—and talking through our wants wit...

Managing relationships and money is never a one-size-fits-all formula, and the way you structure your bank accounts matters far less than your commitment to total financial transparency. We pull back the curtain on our own marriages to compare two opposite setups—from keeping separate finances with a prenup in a blended family to pooling every dollar into one combined checking account. We also get...

Navigating the frugality paradox means realizing that chasing the lowest unit price at Costco often backfires into clutter, waste, and mindless overconsumption. We explore why true intentional spending sometimes requires "micro-buying" and paying more to get less—starting with a tiny pack of just eight peanut M&Ms at a Thailand 7-Eleven that acts as a built-in behavioral guardrail. R...

We review our favorite and what we think is the best retirement planning software out there: Projection Lab. Ditch the duct-taped or maybe even fancy spreadsheets and explore why Projection Lab is an absolute game-changer for the FIRE community and more general retirement planning. By stress-testing your future against life's biggest curveballs, you can build a detailed model of your financial...

Teaching teens about money requires us to look past the spreadsheets and tackle the exhausting real-world money traps happening right inside our homes. We are wrapping up our special three-part series with my 17-year-old stepdaughter, Maddie, by flipping the script to focus entirely on actionable parent tactics. Together, we explore practical strategies to combat sibling scorekeeping, navigate the...

Mastering teen money basics is the ultimate key to transforming Gen Z's financial anxiety into agency and empowerment. In part two of our special series with my 17-year-old stepdaughter, Maddie, we are moving past the psychological traps of spending guilt and laying down highly actionable advice for young adults. We explore how to outsmart the "invisible cash" effect by deleting save...

Raising financially confident teens requires us to look past simple budgeting and understand the psychology they face every single day. We are kicking off an actionable three-part series with my 17-year-old stepdaughter, Maddie, to unpack the reality of teen financial anxiety, the death of the traditional allowance, and modern spending habits. Together, we explore ways to combat the "invisibl...

Examining our deathbed regrets is the ultimate framework for reverse-engineering how we spend our time and money today. We unpack the difference between resume virtues and eulogy virtues, challenging the common instinct to hoard resources for a distant retirement when our peak energy and time with family are happening right now. We explore the power of life-stage time buckets, why buying back time...

Social comparison theory explains why our brains constantly compare our lives to everything we see on social media, leaving us with a heavy dose of aspirational fatigue. We unpack how measuring ourselves against algorithmic facades quietly drains both our mental well-being and our wallets. We share seven ways you can cure aspirational fatigue, including practical steps to reset your digital inputs...

We’ve certainly had some mindset shifts about our financial and life choices over the years, and according to Sahil Bloom, adapting your beliefs is the ultimate sign of intelligence. We get incredibly honest about the things we’ve changed our stance on over the years, and why. We unpack how our shifting mindsets have evolved alongside our lives, like downsizing to a smaller home, paying off our mo...

We are experiencing burnout, so we fantasize about leaving it all behind. What does this mean, and how can we find the middle way to achieve balance, boundaries, and ultimately a happy and content life? It turns out it’s normal to fantasize about packing it all in, ditching the corporate grind, and running away to live in a tree with the squirrels. Rather than just daydreaming about abandoning all...

Are Deferred Compensation Plans (DCPs) the strategic and supercharged path to FIRE, or can a taxable brokerage account get you to the exact same place? We break down exactly how DCPs work, their risks, their realities, and how they've worked for each of us personally. The forced-savings approach of a DCP could be the ultimate in forced savings, or the flexibility of a taxable brokerage account...

We dive into the psychology of money and discuss behavioral biases that explain why we make the financial decisions we do, even when we know better. In breaking down some of these common behavioral finance traps and mental biases, we share actionable tips to help us outsmart our own brains and improve our money habits.  Get the full show notes, show references, and more information here: https://w...

Is our obsession with comfort quietly draining our wealth and resilience? Our modern lives have engineered almost all of the friction and discomfort away. We explore the mental and financial traps of modern convenience, and why leaning into voluntary discomfort builds a more resilient mind and wallet. We share actionable practices for improving your ability to tolerate discomfort, from Misogis to...

They say FI is better with friends, and we definitely think that’s true. Recorded live from CampFI Rocky Mountain week 2.0 with Liz from the Liz Gets Loaded podcast and Kathleen from The Reframe podcast, we tackle the critical role of friendship within our financial independence journey and life in general. Navigating money matters can feel incredibly isolating, especially when doing something tha...

There can be a fine line between frugal and cheap, but taking the time to define your own spending philosophy can help to sharpen that line. We tackle our own frugal versus cheap identity crises and define what it truly means to spend intentionally. We share specific examples of what we have trouble spending on and explore how fear and scarcity can turn a healthy money habit into pathological chea...

I can’t believe what we spent during the first half of 2026!? Our expenses have definitely added up and even surprised us, which is why we think tracking them is so important. We lay out all of our mid-year expenses and discuss unexpected life events, house repairs, and intentional shifts in daily habits that affect everyone's expenses. This is a fully transparent look at our real-life expense...

We often focus on the tactical side of wealth, but true financial independence requires mastering your mindset and building an unbreakable relationship with yourself. I recently made a massive investment in myself—dropping $9,000 for three months of coaching with mindset and lifestyle coach Cru Mahoney—and today I am pulling back the curtain to share exactly what I learned with you for free. We un...

Welcome to another Waffle Week, where we ditch the agenda and just see where the financial conversation takes us. We cover the entire spending spectrum, from spending to saving and from pedicures to standing desks. Grab your favorite protein waffle and join us as we go on an n agenda-less adventure.  Get the full show notes, show references, and more information here: https://www.insideoutmoney.or...

Every day we make decisions that seem isolated, but they actually send massive ripples through our long-term financial lives and overall well-being. From the friends we hang out with and the city we live in, to the partner we choose to navigate money with, your environment drastically shapes your wealth. Recognizing that you have agency over these decisions empowers you to stop feeling stuck, ditc...

We like to think we make rational financial decisions, but the reality is our spending habits are heavily driven by weird, internal cognitive biases. Today, we unpack the completely subjective psychology of how we value money, from price anchoring to mental accounting. By exploring our own financial quirks—like happily splurging on vacation while refusing to buy a $25 airport muffin—we uncover how...

We share our best tips for using Monarch Money to track expenses, manage separate accounts, and keep our financial lives completely organized. We discuss how to remove the friction from budgeting and expense tracking and why a consistent approach beats perfection every time. Whether you are already a Monarch power user or just looking for a better system, we are breaking down the exact strategies...

In today’s complex world, society often complicates matters and exploits our desire for quick fixes. We must confront the truth: while the "simple path" to wealth may seem straightforward, it is anything but easy. Understanding the mathematics of wealth-building is simple, but mastering the necessary psychology and mindset can take years. The encouraging news is that by identifying these...