Radical Personal Finance

Friday Q&A shows are fun and today is no exception. Today I answer five questions: Is there any academic support for the value of financial advisors? What is the best way to prepare to pass the CFP exam? What is the fastest way to become a 1%er? How do you learn to trust insurance people? What is the role of an IPO within a broader investment portfolio? Enjoy my answers! Joshua Links: Research on...

You can’t go from broke to rich in a single step. There’s no magic fairy who will suddenly transform your financial life for you. You have to do it yourself. But you can work your way through a path that leads to financial independence and complete abundance. That path has stages and you should celebrate your progress at every stage! In today's show, I share with you my ideas regarding the stages...

At long last, we enter into the oft-requested topic of life insurance! Today's show is an introduction to the economic basis and justification for life insurance and it's also an outline of some of the uses of life insurance for individuals and families. (We'll cover business uses another day.) You also get the joy of a bit of a sales pitch on why I love life insurance planning so much. It's truly...

Retirement planning is at the core of the financial planning profession. But, it's a very complex subject and it's tough to wrap your head around the process. I've invited Roger Whitney, CFP®, CIMA®, CPWA®, AIF®, financial advisor and host of the Retirement Answer Man Podcast on the show today to chat about retirement from his perspective. Roger specializes in working with retirees and prospective...

One of the challenges of personal finance math is the relevance of a particular scale. Sometimes you can get a massive benefit by switching to a different scale. One famous example is the daily latte. $4 for a latte sounds about right in today's world. But if you do it every day, it adds up. To fully appreciate the impact of the seemingly small expenditure you can change the scale from daily to an...

I've got a double problem this week that is keeping me from releasing shows: No internet at my house. Launching the new site. So, I'm releasing a couple of interviews that have been recorded with me in the past. This one is very good. Rob is a great interviewer and he was able to get very in-depth. This show has an in-depth discussion of the benefits and problems of financial advisors.  Rob was al...

I'm not able to record a normal show today, so I'm releasing a copy of an interview I conducted with Nick Loper from Side Hustle Nation. This interview was released on February 19, 2015 on Nick's show , just in time for tax-time! This show is a good overview of some general tax tips: When and why you should incorporate your business, and why most beginning side hustlers should NOT. How to set up a...

My guest today is a veteran of financial reporting.  Fred Gabriel  has spent the last 17 years reporting on the financial advice industry. He began his career as a mutual fund reporter and progressed to be named the editor of Investment News in 2012. I spoke with Fred at the Technology Tools for Today Conference and we focused our conversation on the changing landscape of financial advice. Due to...

On Monday, I released the show on new cars vs used cars. It became clear to me while doing that show that I really needed to do an in-depth discussion of the concept of Opportunity Cost. If you understand Opportunity Cost you can easily help people to make better decisions. All of us make decisions based on what we value. Every transaction is based on each party involved preferring what the other...

I've brought you some shows on the concept of advancing your career by attending industry conferences. But what about getting a double bonus by organizing the conference yourself? That way you get all the benefits you would get from attending but you get the added bonus of becoming an industry leader. Plus, perhaps you can make some money on the event! My guest today is Philip "PT" Taylor, founder...

Ahhh, the great debate over cars! Should I buy new or should I buy used? In reality, the answer is simple: What are the needs and wants you're trying to satisfy? Which option meets those needs for the lowest total, lifetime cost? Choose the option that fits best. But, of course, there are as many ways to answer those questions as there are people in the world. Regardless of the decision you make,...

I'd like to share with you a look behind-the-scenes of the business of Radical Personal Finance. I want you to know why I host a daily (or at least almost-daily) podcast and why I've stuck with that, even with many people suggesting less frequency. To be clear: I don't think you should copy what I'm doing. But perhaps if you understand why I'm doing what I'm doing you may be able to apply it to yo...

This week I'm focused single-mindedly on the new version of the Radical Personal Finance website. So, I'm releasing some alternative content to you for your listening pleasure. This is Part 2 of an  interview I gave on the Family Adventure Podcast  with Erik Hemingway. It was released in November 2014. The interview is an introduction to a bunch of concepts on how to focus your budget so that you...

This week I'm focused single-mindedly on the new version of the Radical Personal Finance website. So, I'm releasing some alternative content to you for your listening pleasure. This is Part 1 of an interview I gave on the Family Adventure Podcast  with Erik Hemingway. It was released in October 2014. The interview is an introduction to a bunch of concepts on how to focus your budget so that you ca...

This week I'm focused single-mindedly on the new version of the Radical Personal Finance website. So, I'm releasing some alternative content to you for your listening pleasure. This is an interview I gave that was released on September 4, 2014 on the Create My Independence Podcast with Kraig Mathias. It was the first podcast interview I ever gave after starting my show! It has a good bit of my sto...

It's Friday and on Fridays, I answer your questions. If you'd like me to answer your questions, please email them to me or call them in on the website. Question #1: Joshua, My father, who is 60 years of age, has become a victim of numerous scams over the last year or two. Generally, they involve him receiving calls that he won some prize and needs to wire some money (usually in $500 increments) to...

Years ago I heard of the concept of a hackerspace/makerspace. In essence, a hackerspace is a community-operated physical place where people can meet and work on their projects. But, the work that can come out of those spaces is far more impressive than that description makes it sound like. I've wanted to bring you the concept but since I'm not an expert, I needed to do it in the context of an inte...

I spent years consuming personal finance literature and the idea of saving 10 to 20% of my income was hammered into my head. That is the standard percentage that is recommended to be saved by prudent, diligent people. I took that number with me into my foray into the financial planning world without ever questioning it. But, somewhere around 2011 I had my world rocked by reading Early Retirement E...

Traditionally, the knowledge and skills of financial planning were learned by financial advisors on the job. Most financial advisors started as either stockbrokers or insurance salespeople and then moved into financial planning simply as an extension of their career. A common educational path was to simply take the state-required insurance licensing courses and the state-required securities licens...

I was very saddened to hear on Sunday night that Dr. Tom Stanley, author of the famous book "The Millionaire Next Door" and many others, died in a car accident  near his home in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon. As I reflected on the impact that he and his work had on my life, I came to realize that he probably had a greater impact on my way of thinking than any other personal finance author I can thin...

Today on the show, I answer these two questions: Joshua, The reason why I am writing has nothing to do with finances, but career advice.  Did you (or do you) provide career counseling?  If not, can you at least recommend someone you trust?  I thought I heard you mention on a previous show that you were involved in that line of work, unless I am mistaken and it was a guest.  Brief intro: I am 32 ye...

The financial planning industry faces many challenges. One of the major challenges has been how to effectively serve younger generations of clients. My guest today has some ideas on how things can be done better. He set out originally to develop a different model of financial planning practice for himself and wound up creating a company dedicated to bringing the model to the world. Alan Moore, MS,...

Today, we dive into the details of Pre-Paid Tuition Programs. I'm generally not a fan of these programs and you get to hear why! (I do acknowledge that they have their uses).  This opinion (my non-fan-ness) has always been a bit challenging since I do financial planning the state of Florida...and Florida has the most popular pre-paid tution program in the country! But, I still believe I'm right an...

I'm fascinated by long-term travel stories. After all, some people have to wait until they're retired to travel but some people are able to do it long before? How? Why? What can we learn from them? My guest today is fascinating. Greg Denning and his wife, Rachel,  are living a long-term travel lifestyle. Currently, they're driving from Alaska to Argentina   via Europe . Impressively, they're doing...

Most of us have heard the example of the magic penny that doubles every day in value for a month. But, have you sat down and looked at that example to really understand what lessons you can apply to your own life? Today, I share with you 5 lessons I've learned from that example: 1. Rate of return matters 2. Time matters 3. In the beginning, it's easy to spend. That's what most people do. 4. In the...