Couple Money Podcast

Want your kids to leave the house money savvy? Learn easy techniques and ways on how to teach your children how to save and invest like a pro! Teaching Kids to Save and Invest Do you remember how you handled money growing up? I can’t recall when I got my allowance, but I remember being in second or third grade going around the neighborhood collecting bottles and cans to recycle and earn some extra money. And as grateful as I am for learning what I did, from how I mismanaged money later on and got into debt in college, I can see there were some gaps in my financial knowledge. My husband and I both want our girls to know the value of a hard-earned dollar and how to use it wisely. That won’t happen by accident. It’s going to take a plan. If you two want to help your little ones, make sure you save this episode. Bill Dwight, creator of the amazing family banking app famZoo is here today on the show. Besides being a tech whiz, he’s a father of five who’s had plenty of experience with the ups and downs of raising k

Dream of quitting your job, but worried about your finances? Learn how one couple saved 70% of their income, quit their jobs, and pursued their dreams of financial freedom! Quitting $250K Jobs to Travel the Country Together September is here which means this week we're nailing down what we like to do before 2018 closes out. How about you? What goal or two do you want to knock out these next few months? There’s still time to do something big. Today Alison and Matt from Owen Your Future are here to break down how they’re pursuing financial freedom on the road after they quit their jobs. Whether you want to pivot your career, travel more, or just want to have some more options in your life, there are some wonderful strategies and tactics you can use. Why they wanted to pursue financial independence (and what that means to them) The process and steps they took to save 70% of their income why they shifted and quit their jobs early, even though they did not reach their FI number  Let’s see if we can get you a few

Today I'm opening up the community mailbag and answering your biggest marriage and money questions! How do you maximize your paychecks while still making sure you don't owe the IRS come tax time? How do you tackle multiple goals and make real progress on them?  Marriage and Money Mailbag We're here - the summer of savings finale! It's been an incredible and fun six weeks. I hope you got inspired with ways you can save money while still having a good time now. And I thought the best way to wrap things up is to chat with you and answering marriage and money questions. In this episode we go over: maximize your paychecks knocking out several goals best money tools for busy couples Hope you enjoy! Resources to Help You Tackle Marriage and Money Want to jump in and get your finances squared away? Here are some cool tools and resources to make mastering your money easier! Get More Money in Your Paycheck: How to Calculate Your W-4 Withholding TurboTax W-4 Withholding Calculator 5 Tips for Adjusting Withholding A

School's out - what are you up to? Today we're talking about frugal and fun summer activities for your kids and for you! Fun and Frugal Summer Activities for Kids Summer break is here and so far, it's been a blast. As school was finishing up with my little one we headed over to Denver. My cousin's wedding was beautiful. We took the girls to the park to play and relax. Got to go downtown, explore. Eat. We tried some local brews. Thanks to my mom, we had some extra date nights. the next week was a bit more low key at home, but still fun. with a couple of weeks left before our oldest goes back to school, we're mixing things up so it'll be a memorable summer and won't break our budget. if you're in the same boat, I have some good news. Today we have two guests to give some ideas. Aja from Principles of Increase and Paul Vassey of Cash Crunch Games are here to help make things easier. In this episode, we get into: how to find enriching and frugal activities around town giving your kids skills and knowledge to han

While it may seem doctors have it easy with their healthy incomes, the reality is much more down to earth as many are also dealing with massive amounts of debt. Learn how to balance dumping debt, saving, and having some fun now!    Financial Residency with Allison and Curtis  A few years ago when we were like trying to dig out of debt I thought they would be so much easier if we had a healthy income. And yes having a certain amount does make a big difference but that's only part of the equation. That's why I bought Ryan here to co-host. He's not only familiar with the technical stuff as a financial planner over at Physician Wealth Services, he has practical knowledge and real-life experience as a husband to a physician.  Today he's talking to Dr. Allison Webster, an ER physician, and her husband Curtis, creator of Dads Married to Doctors. They're going to discuss: the financial challenges (and massive amounts of debt) that come with becoming a physician working through their difference when it comes to handl

The Debt Free Story Behind Popcorn Finance One of the first things I ask when you join the community is to share what goal you're tackling. By far, the two biggest goals are dumping debt and having some savings for emergencies. And that makes sense, seeing as the average household that has credit card debt, has a balance of just under $16,000. The average American under 35 has about $1500 in savings. That can be a real burden on a marriage. But you two can get out of your financial rut and start making real progress. My buddy Chris, creator and host of Popcorn Finance is on the show to share his story. We get into: how Chris and his wife 'K' got into debt the system they use to budget and knock out their debts what's his favorite money app Hope you enjoy! Resources to Get on the Same Page with Your Finances Want to make talking about money less stressful? Here are some fantastic resources to motivate and nudge you to debt freedom faster! What’s Your One Page Financial Plan? Our $27,000 Debt Story How to

Does your food bill blow your budget? Today you'll learn how to master meal planning to save you a ton of time and money!  How to Save with Meal Planning One of the biggest bills couples have - especially busy ones - is their food. Between eating out and buying food for the family, there doesn't seem to be enough money to cover everything.  We discussed saving money when eating out a few episodes ago. Now we're looking at the other side -mastering your groceries and meals at home. I asked my buddy Jen Smith to come on board. She's the creator of Saving with Spunk and the author of the new book Meal Planning on a Budget. In this episode we discuss: how meal planning doesn't mean leftover every night the magic of slow cookers how seasonal and sales eating is lower your bills and be better health wise Hope you enjoy! Resources to Save Money While Eating Well Want to cut your spending on food without sacrificing quality? Here are some resources to check out. Grocery Price Books: Slash Your Food Bill and Save T

Do you two have several dreams you want to achieve, but not making any real progress? Today I'll share how you can save for your big goals together!    How to Save for Your Biggest Goals Today we're going to tackle the three biggest hurdles to saving and achieving your goals: Getting your spouse on board with saving Getting on the same page with your goals Finding money to save Hope you enjoy! Resources to Define Your Priorities and Big Goals Whether it’s a joint or personal goal, there are handy resources available to help you two achieve your dreams. 20 Ways to Have Fun This Summer and Still Save a Ton of Money How Our Financial Goals Followed Our Family What’s Your One Page Financial Plan? Handy Tools to Save More Money Here are a few of my favorite tools that make saving money much easier! Money Tracking and Budgets: Personal Capital, Mint, and Tiller are fantastic options Qapital: Free tool that makes saving automatic and fun iBotta: Redeem cash while shopping Camel, Camel, Camel: Free Amazon pri

Looking to kick things up a notch? Learn how you can have fun this summer and still save some serious money!  Summer Saving Fun I'm so ready for summer! The tricky part of summer, especially if you have little ones, is making sure you don't go broke while still having fun. So to wrap up this season, I challenged myself. Today I'm going to share how you can save a grand this summer! We're going to look at 4 areas and show you 5 ways to save.  Getting the Best Deals Boost Your Savings  Frugal Foodie Vacations/Getaways Hope you enjoy!  Getting the Best Deals  If you're out shopping make sure you're getting the best deals! Some of my favorite apps and sites are: iBotta Camel, Camel, Camel Honey Paribus Your family's smartphone plan shouldn't cost you a fortune. There are some fantastic deals out there. I use Republic Wireless and love them. They have an incredible line of phones. I have two lines with them and pay less than $50/month!  You may also want to look at providers like Ting, Freedom Pop, and

Want to help your kid graduate college debt free? Learn the strategy and tactics one mom used to snag her son $700,000 in scholarships!  The Scholarship Shark College is expensive. I don't think that's news to you, but did you know that graduates in the class of 2017 are on average carrying student loan debt of just over $39,400? And that the student loan delinquency rate of 11.2%? If you're a parent, you're probably worried about how that can affect your child's financial future. You need to hunt down as many scholarships as you can. That's why I'm grateful Pam Andrews is here on the show. She's not only the College Admissions Coach and Scholarship Strategist behind The Scholarship Shark, she's a mom. A mom who managed to help her son snag $700,000 in scholarships. Yep. So if you are interested in helping you kid minimize or skip those student loans, you'll want to really pay attention to this episode. Today Pam and I discuss: how they worked together to find which schools to apply to the strategy of gettin

Do you two have a couple of dreams you'd love to get started on but right now the money isn't working? Today we're going to discuss how to pursue your dreams without going broke! Working Together to Pursue Your Dreams Real life isn't that smooth. There are a dozen and more ways things can go sideways with the business. If you're married, you have to work as a team. Today Alex Grodnik from Wall Street Oasis' podcast Moving Up and founder of Payclub is here to share his story and offer from tips from the trenches. His career has a had a few shifts. He and his wife are working together to a find a flow that allows them to pursue their dreams, pay their bills, and prepare for the arrival of their daughter this summer. In this episode we discuss: why he choose to get an MBA and the unexpected pivot he made how they went to from living off two incomes to one the real truth and finances of being a startup entrepreneur Hope you enjoy! Resources to Help You Launch a Side Hustle If you’re ready to make the leap, here

Want to become debt free, but you haven't figured out how to do it together? Here's what you need to know to knock out your debt faster!  Debt Free Together I've yet to meet a couple who became debt free by accident. I mean it's kind of easy to slip into credit card debt or take on loans because that's considered normal. But to move away from that mentality takes effort. And being a couple, you have two minds to shift. There are things to consider together. Like your approach. Do you gravitate towards earning more money to knock out that debt or do you find it easier to slash your expenses? How fast do you do it? How do you two work as a team and use your personal talents to knock this debt off? Every couple has their approach, so what worked for us might not work for you. Which is why I love chatting with others and hearing how they did it. John Wedding, the creator of Mighty Bargain Hunter, is on the show today to offer his take. He and his wife are debt free except the house. In this episode, we get into:

Want to stop living paycheck to paycheck, but not sure where to start? Learn how to create a budget together so you can have fun now and some savings later!  Create a Budget You Both Love How do you feel about your budget? Be honest. Chances are you're not exactly thrilled about it. A survey conducted by Experian found that nearly half – 42% to be exact – don’t use one because they feel like they're ineffective and unnecessary. So how do you create a budget that you both love?   Peter Polson from Tiller, one of the coolest money apps out there, is joining me today to offer some fantastic suggestions and ideas. In this episode we'll discuss: how a budget can fit into your life and grow with you through your marriage how to fit your personal hobbies into your budget why there is no one size fits all budget Hope you enjoy! Resources to Budget Together Do you two want to get on the same page with budgets? Here are some helpful resources mentioned in the episode and more. Jumpstart Your Marriage and Your Money

Today on the podcast we're going to be talking about the connection between your hobbies and having a rich life! Do Your Hobbies Move You Closer to Financial Independence? So today's topic - this connection between the hobbies you have and whether or not you're having a rich life -  is fascinating to me. It's kind of a continuation of this past Tuesday's episode where we were talking about breaking the switch with mindless spending.  there focus there was making sure we were breaking that habit of unconsciously spending more and turning that into something more productive.  One way is through hobbies we take on. However, are there certain hobbies that can make a real difference with getting to financial independence faster and having a rich and fulfilling life?  In this episode, we'll get into: different hobbies between high earning and low earning households how your hobbies can help you on the path to financial independence aligning your hobbies to a richer life Hope you enjoy!  Financial Independence and

Do you feel like you've hit a wall with your money? Learn how to find your financial blindspots and break the mindless spending twitch! How to Break the Mindless Spending Cycle We all do it. It might be small amounts every day perhaps driving by to grab coffee and breakfast on the way to work or going out for lunch with colleagues. It could be those Amazon deliveries that show up at our doors, tucked away from necessities that we ordered. Some people call it the spending leaking, impulse buying, mindless spending. The label doesn't really matter - what does is understanding that we all have blind-spots. Little places in our finances where we know we're spending something, but we're not aware of just how much it is. Inspired by the incredible site and story of Break the Twitch, I want to share some personal about how easy it was for us to slip into mindless spending and how we found a way to make sure they don't sabotage our finances. In this episode we get into: finding your financial blind spots breaking th

Want to be completely debt free, including your house? Find out the key changes one couple made to pay off their mortgage in less than 5 years!  Pay Your Mortgage Off Faster What would you do if you owed your home free and clear like Andy does now? With no mortgage payment what options would open up? There's a good chance you'd love to get rid of your mortgage, but the idea of getting rid of such a huge amount makes it seem impossible. Forget paying it off in 5 years, you may struggle to even see a way to reduce it in half. Right now median purchase price of a home here in the United States is $235,000, with 10% down. Now if you live in D.C. you're looking at $400,000 with my buddies in Cali close behind at around $350,000. Not cheap. Probably the biggest purchase you'll make. Which is why I asked my buddy and Marriage, Kids, and Money creator, Andy Hill, to come on. He's an awesome guy, really excited to get couples closer to their debt free goals. We both know that not everyone can replicate what Andy and

With money fights being the main cause of divorce, many couples could use some financial therapy. Learn habits and techniques you can use to make money talks less stressful and more productive! Is Financial Therapy Right for You?  Money problems are usually symptoms of a much deeper issue. It can be within our relationship - how we communicate or it can an issue we ourselves have like anxiety or depression. From our personal experience and hearing from other couples, it can be more common than you think. And that matters because if you don't get to the root, it can keep popping up. And in some cases cause damage. Financial education is crucial, but sometimes you need to a specialist. I'm not a therapist, but I do know one and she's here to help. Kine Corder is here on the podcast to cover some problems and bumps couples experience when dealing with money. In this episode, we get into: common issues couples have when they come to her for financial therapy ways to communicate better so things are less stressfu

Have you ever been frustrated with how long it was going to take to get out of debt? Learn how to handle setbacks, define your family's path, and knock out your goals together!  Defining Your Family's Financial Success Do you ever feel frustrated with how things are going? You read these awesome stories like This Couple Paid Off $72,000 in Debt in 22 Months or Couple shares how they wiped out $162K debt in less than 3 years. You're thinking, 'wow we're working at a snail's pace'. That can be discouraging. I want to highlight a different story.  Today Steve Goodwin from My Family on a Budget shares his family's more down to earth journey to becoming debt free. In this episode we discuss: how financial Peace University transformed their finances Steve's big mistake with investing and how he fixed it making the transition to being a stay at home dad Hope you enjoy! Resources to Help You Get Out of Debt Tired of being in debt? Here are some resources to help you dump it. Money for Meaning Attacking Debt: Whic

How would your life change if you were debt free? No credit cards, car or student loan to worry about. Not even a mortgage. Today one couple shares their journey and advice to a happy and debt free life! Living Debt Free Living debt free can seem like an impossible dream depending on where you're starting from. For some couples and families taking on debt seems to be just a normal thing you do. But just because this is common and going on with your neighbors and friends even with yourself does it mean that that's the path you have to go on. Mark and Milhila, the couple behind Money for Meaning, are here to share their journey and how they refocused their lives and are now live debt free. They wrote a guest post early this year about how they live on cash. Yep, they have no mortgage.  In this episode we get into: why they wanted to get into this debt free lifestyle how to build wealth as a side effect how they figure where to spend and where to save Hope you enjoy! Resources to Help You Get Out of Debt Tire

Frustrated with your credit card, car payments, and student loans? Learn how you two can come together to dump your debt faster and retire early!  How You Can Retire Early Let me ask you two questions.  Where are you guys right now?  Where do you want to be in five years?  Does it seem like there is a huge gap between today and five years from now?    If you would've told me five years ago we'd be out of debt (except for the mortgage) and be on our way towards financial independence I'd think you'd be a little crazy. Sure, I was optimistic, but it wouldn't feel possible with all that we were juggling at the time.    But when you break down your goal into chunks and you work out a system which for us includes automating, you can see huge results. The good news is that the skills you use to get out of debt are transferable. Instead of sending in those extra payments to your credit cards and student loans, you can direct to savings and investments. Deacon Hayes, personal finance author and Well Kept Wallet fou