Marriage, Kids And Money

Are you ready to buy a house, but you're not sure you can afford it? That's the situation our friend Ryan is in today. He is planning to move and wants to stop renting because he feels like it's a waste of money.   I share 5 strategies that will help him know when he is ready to buy a house.  Also, I answer another question from Karen about consolidating investment accounts.  Lastly, Janelle Page from Indiana shares how she paid off her house in just 3 years! RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should the man always pay for dinner on dates? What about dinners with friends? How do you handle that? Nicole grew up in a different culture than Andy and they discuss how this "paying for dinner" situation has caused a lot of controversy in their marriage.  They review the pros and cons of being generous with paying the bill and if you might actually offend someone if you insist on paying.  What do you think? Please leave us a voicemail or a note on Instagram Cheers! RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CBS News Business Analyst Jill Schlesinger shares common money mistakes to avoid on our financial journey. It's fun to celebrate the big financial wins, but it can be just as important to review our mistakes. That way we learn from them and grow. Jill Schlesinger, Author of "The Dumb Things Smart People Do with Their Money: Thirteen Ways to Right Your Financial Wrongs", breaks down why we make these mistakes and what we can do to avoid them in the future. Show notes: https://marriagekidsandmoney.com/podcast/money-mistakes-to-avoid-jill-schlesinger/ RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it more important to increase your income or decrease your expenses? Which lever is more important to pull on your financial journey? Nicole throws a curveball at Andy and tells him he can't choose both. Boo! They discuss the decisions they've made in their marriage regarding increasing income and decreasing expenses.  Given the power of both options, what do you think is the right answer? They'd love to hear from you through voicemail or on Instagram RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you in your 30s and you're ready to start investing? Well, you may already be an investor and you didn't even know it! Find out why when I chat with Broke Millennial Author, Erin Lowry. She discusses how we can invest for our retirement and for other events in our lives and pay fewer taxes in the process. We also discuss how to find a financial advisor you can trust and why fiduciary may be the best "f-word" ever! Show Notes: https://marriagekidsandmoney.com/podcast/how-to-start-investing-30s-erin-lowry/ RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there a difference between cheap and frugal? Some see them as the same thing and others feel there is a big difference.  As per usual, Nicole and Andy disagree on the cheap vs. frugal discussion and they dive into it headfirst.  Where do you fall? Is cheap the same thing as frugal? Should there be a better word being discussed here? Let us know on Voicemail or on Instagram RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Faith & Leo Jean-Louis recently paid off over $200,000 of debt. The year after, they invested over $100,000 in the stock market.  Discover how they did this and paid fewer taxes in the process. This inspiring young family is building generational wealth through faith, legacy, and focused investing. What would generational wealth mean to your family? Check out the show notes and video: https://marriagekidsandmoney.com/invest-100000-in-1-year-faith-leo-jean-louis RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you feel talking about money is taboo? Nicole and I dive into how sensitive it is to talk about money in our culture and in our relationship.  We discuss ways that this awkwardness has made its way into our marriage and takeaways for other couples who are wondering how to handle the taboo topic of money.  Want to give us feedback or ideas for future episodes? Contact us on Instagram or leave a voicemail at marriagekidsandmoney.com/voicemail RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After working in his corporate career for 20 years, Tom is looking to resign and experience his financial independence.  He wants to do it right and leave with a severance package that helps him roll into his early retirement.  Sam Dogen from Financial Samurai joins me to help Tom engineer his layoff and make this process successful. Also, Andy LeBlanc from Utah shares how he became a millionaire by age 41! RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it worth it to leave a six-figure career to pursue entrepreneurship? That's what I asked my wife Nicole today.  It's been one year since I left my job and we've been through a lot with the pandemic, virtual school and loss of income.  We discuss the impact of this decision, if we'd do it all over again and advice for other couples considering this entrepreneurship leap.  RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some people feel that budgets can be restricting or they reinforce a scarcity mindset. While others get a sense of freedom and control with their budget.  So what's the right answer? Jesse Mecham, Founder of You Need a Budget (YNAB), joins me to discuss this debate and how people can find their individual path with budgeting.  RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you be happily married and have separate bank accounts? Nicole and I dive deep into the subject and analyze if this is something we could do in our relationship after 10 years of having one joint account. Knowing how personal this topic can be, Nicole and I share three takeaways for couples to decide if this is right for them.  What do you think? Could you see having yours, mine and ours account in your relationship? Let us know on Instagram! RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel Cruze joins me to answer a question from anonymous: "My husband wants separate bank accounts and I don't. What should I do?" We discuss the options available to our anonymous friend including the importance of clear communication and even asking for support from a marriage counselor. Rachel and I also discuss her thoughts on the Enneagram Test, how she differs in opinions from her Dad, Dave Ramsey and what she thinks of the FIRE Community.  During the second part of the episode, I throw out another MKM Challenge to reflect on 2020 and fight our instincts toward negativity. Lastly, Zoey joins me for our very first "Money Quiz"! RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's money for if you can't enjoy it? Sometimes when it's all lumped into one account that can be hard.  Nicole and I talk about the benefits of breaking your money into buckets to allow yourself to have some more fun.  Do you break your money into buckets? Let us know on Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/marriagekidsandmoney RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lowering our annual expenses can allow us to achieve debt freedom and financial independence a lot sooner.  But spending less can also mean not having as much fun. And who wants that? Not our family! That's why we went on a quest to decrease our UN-Fun expenses by $20,000 while increasing our FUN expenses by $10,000.  Who's ready to have more fun for less money? I share all the details of how our family made this financial change up and how you can too.  RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever been passionate about something and your spouse doesn't share the same passion? These differences can affect your relationship ...sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.  Nicole and Andy Hill discuss how these types of conflicts have affected their relationship in the past and how they have dealt with them.  RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you want to become a young millionaire? So did J. Money from "Budget Are Sexy" fame over 10 years ago. He started tracking his net worth each month and eventually, he hit his millionaire milestone.  J. Money shares what your net worth is, how you can easily track it and ways for you to grow your net worth to a million and beyond.  Listen to today's first-ever BEST OF MKM episode featuring J. Money! RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nicole and Andy chat about buying presents for the kids for Christmas.  How many are too many? How little is too little? We're not sure we have the answers, but we sure enjoyed our drinks while we're discovering it.  Thanks for joining us for another Bread & Wine episode! RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In order to keep our personal information safe online, we need to remain vigilant and aware of how cyberattacks happen.  Dr. Eric Cole shares practical steps we can take to protect ourselves from malicious cyber crimes like phishing scams, hacks and data breaches.  This is serious business as families can lose so much of their hard-earned wealth. Listen to find out how the quick steps you can take to protect your wealth and your family.  RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By popular demand, I invited my wife Nicole to join me for our first (and hopefully not last) "Bread & Wine" episode.  Our chat today is about contentment.  How do we become content? How do we stay content? And how do we fight discontentment? Cheers! RESOURCES **Sponsor + Partners + Deals: https://www.marriagekidsandmoney.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices