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This is an iHeart podcast.
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Guaranteed Human.
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Is it just me or is it getting really hard to figure out the best way to save for retirement? Well, Fidelity can help you to find clarity so you can save the best way for you. With a free personalized plan, goal tracking and timely insights, you'll be set to take on retirement your way.
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Get started@fidelity.com future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account. Apply Fidelity Brokerage Services member NYSE SIPC say you've always wanted to take a spontaneous trip to the Caribbean. Here's the thing. If you get smart with your money, you can do things like that. With Empower, you can start making the most of your money so you can go out and live a little. Isn't that why we work so hard to have some fun with our money? Like treating yourself to something special or
- [00:48]
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spontaneously doing something extra for a loved one? Use Empower and get good at money so you can be a little bad. Join their 20 million customers today@empower.com not an Empower client, paid or sponsored. Okay, Joel, I am excited about this one. Here on the show we are all about comparing prices to save money on so many things in life. So why wouldn't we compare prices for our next ride share? Taking a few seconds to check Lyft can save you real money on your next ride. And I did this last time. I caught a ride home from the airport after some travel and guess who came out on top. It was was Lyft. Don't just price check with your flights and phone plans and groceries. Comparing rideshare prices will help you to save money every time you ride. Save money. Check Lyft.
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Welcome to how to Money. I'm Joel.
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And I am Matt and today we're
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hosting an ama so you can better know your podcast host.
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That's right, buddy. This is a. This is like a how to money unplugged. Although by the way, my voice, I feel like. Does my voice sound hoarse to you? That's a little battling a little, a little bit of a cold here. But this is like, like a more casual episode and instead of diving into financial tips, different stories, different guests that we thought would be interesting for the podcast, we are hosting an AMA and ask me anything for those who like to spend time over on Reddit. And Joel, you posted in the Facebook group asking for just basically if you had a question for us for Matt and Joel about anything non money related, those are the questions that we wanted to hear from you.
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Well, and specifically when we say non money related, we didn't want it to be like an Ask HTM episode. Right. Where you're asking money questions that you have. But some people did ask about our financials. They asked about how our podcast makes money. We're going to get to those questions during this episode. So there is, there's a little bit of money.
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That's just like one question. The rest of them are very, very personal, honestly.
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And so about your lower back tattoo,
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Matt Joel actually does have a tramp stamp. And we'll get to that right after we introduce our beer. And actually we wanted to. Did you want to explain the Better know your podcast hosts? Oh, so it's like a throwback to the Colbert Report.
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That's right. Yeah.
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So one of the things out there,
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best segments in TV history, was when Stephen Colbert, who was at that point not nearly as well known, and he would sit down with a congressperson from a small district in a random, random state. And so he, it was called Better know a district. And so he would interview a congressperson and ask him off the wall questions. And it was just like TV gold and so, so good. The Colbert Report, such a good segment, was one of the best shows on TV at that point in time. Oh, easily the back to back between the Daily show and the Colbert Report was like, that was an hour worth of just utter beautiful political insanity.
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Kate and I attended a taping. I don't know if we've ever talked about that. I think we have talked about that.
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Did we? Okay.
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Yeah, we got. They were free back in the day.
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That was right before he stopped doing it. Right, Right before he took off.
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Yeah, it was the last year, last season, and we lucked out and got tickets to one of the tapings.
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Yeah.
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So it's a fun time.
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In the same way you can feel free to humiliate us with your questions and maybe we'll do another one of these in the future. But we were like, listen, like we've done, Matt, our personal stories, you and I, where we kind of interviewed each
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other, but it was more of like our personal finance background, essentially, and kind of like our history of money, how we approach how we got to where we are today.
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And if you want to know more of those backgrounds, we'll link to both of those episodes in the show notes. But, but this is really just a way for you to ask your questions. Like if you've listened for two months or for two years, you probably have some questions about who we are, what we Like. Like what we do. And so we just thought it'd be fun to take some of those on today's episode.
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That's right. But first, let's introduce our beer, which is Double Top, which is a double IPA by Academia Brewing Company. Looking forward to enjoying this one with you today, buddy. And we will share our thoughts at the end of the episode, for sure.
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Yeah, this one was a collab with one of our local bottle shops, which is the best bottle shop in the area. We'll give our thoughts on this beer at the end of the episode. But let's get to it, Matt. Let's do the AMA and give you guys a chance to know us a little bit better. There were some great questions posed in our Facebook group. By the way, if you are not a member of the how to Money Facebook group, go to facebook.com if you're. You know, if you're so inclined, join the how to Money Facebook group. We'd love to have you. It's a bunch of awesome people asking each other money questions, giving each other helpful, encouraging each other. It's the hive mind at work, and people are sweet in there, which is nice because that's a rarity when it comes to online engagement. But let's get to our first question, Matt, that someone in the Facebook group posed. This one was from Susan, and it says, how did you guys first meet each other? Alex also chimed in. He wanted a friendship history. So you want to start on that one?
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You want me to kick it off?
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Yeah.
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So I would say basically it was a game night, so we've got some mutual friends and they invited Kate and I, as well as you and Emily, and maybe like another couple or two over. I cannot remember. But I know that y' all were there. I know that we were there. I'm pretty sure we played Settlers of Catan. I'm pretty sure I probably won.
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Unlikely.
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And so, honestly, I'm surprised we are actually friends because I know you hate getting beat.
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I am competitive.
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But that was. That was when we first met, and pretty much we've been friends ever since then. Yeah. But yeah, that's actually. Okay. So I take it back. That's the first time we met you two as a couple. I had met Emily. Kate and I had met Emily before. Previously. We talk about Monday night brewing. They make Atlanta's best beer, but back in the day, they used to brew in one of the founders garage, Jeff's garage. And I remember meeting Emily way, way back in the day. This is before you two started dating, actually.
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That's right. Yeah, that's a good point. So, yeah, you guys have known each
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other longer, slightly longer than just a little bit longer than y'.
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All. But yeah, we've been friends for now something close to 13 years. I guess that's got to be a long time. Close to that, yes.
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I think it was the beginning of2011.
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Yeah. And it's one of those things where Matt and I, we just kind of very different personalities in a lot of ways, but we have a lot of things in common. We care about a lot of the same things. We also went to the same church for a long time.
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So that's.
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That's part of it. We're actually. We've got a couple of faith based questions that we'll get to in a little bit, too.
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Yeah. Well, okay. So kind of related to how we met each other. Megan asked, how did you meet your wives? And I already explained how I met your wife. Joel, how did you meet your wife?
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Yeah, so interestingly enough, at church. And so her other question was, I'm curious if you guys are religious at all. And yes, my wife and I, we met. Well, actually, the first time I ever met her was at a friend's wedding. And I remember sitting, seeing her on the dance floor, and she has dance moves like no other. And so I was like, who is this girl with those phenomenal dance moves? And it turns out she was dating someone else at the time. And so I had to kind of like, I asked around behind the scenes, got the down low, and finally she broke up with that loser. And I immediately asked her out on a date. And it didn't take. Actually, the first three dates did not go so well, and we just didn't connect at all. And I was like, I'm just not going to ask her out again. I don't know. She felt very guarded. And so we didn't really hit it off immediately, but then we kind of started to hang out as friends more and more and we realized that we liked each other. Started dating again. Didn't have to date very long before we knew, hey, you're the one for me.
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Before you pop the big question, y' all were engaged. And so this is when y' all were Both in your mid-20s. Y' all were kind of like young professionals.
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That's right. 25.
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Kate and I, we met when we were in college. And so she was a freshman.
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I was more of a young unprofessional.
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By the way, you still got to wear your jeans and T shirt. In school.
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That's right.
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Kate was a freshman. I was a senior the year that we met. And so it didn't make a whole lot of sense for us to start dating, but we had a lot of mutual friends. So because of that, we started hanging out some and then started hanging out more one on one. Started dating that last semester before I graduated. So it was one of the. Didn't really make sense. But you know what, Joel? Love doesn't really make a whole lot of sense sometimes, does it?
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True.
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But yeah, that is how you're a poet philosopher, buddy. And. Well, yeah. And Megan, the second part of her question. I've always been curious if you guys are religious at all.
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Yeah. And Carol. Carol had a question, too, that followed up on that, basically the ancient Money Wisdom episode. She said, I'd like to hear more about how faith factors into your money decisions, if at all.
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Those are kind of connected, connected questions there. But yeah. So I was raised Catholic. I grew up Catholic and then over time found myself in other branches of Christianity. But does that factor into any of our money decisions? And I would say absolutely. It's hard to tell which aspects, which parts of faith directly influence money decisions. We recently had an episode about being charitable, about giving your money away. That is a way in which it directly impacts how it is that we handle our money. So in the Bible, there's the tithe, which is giving away 10% of your income.
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And that's kind of the Old Testament principle. And then the principle in the New Testament that Jesus espouses is to sacrificially give your money away, which I think is kind of like even a higher standard.
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Exactly. Yeah. And so, I mean, that's more like one of the direct ways. But ultimately, like, I feel like one of the core tenets of Christianity is just about. It's about loving other people, right? Like loving your neighbor, loving your enemies. And so when it comes to just how it is that our family handles our money and just kind of what it is that we do here on the show, Joel, I think basically, maybe an oversimplified filter is, does this action, does it demonstrate love to other people, to our listeners? And I think by running almost every decision that we make sort of through that filter. And granted, it's not like we're sitting. Sitting down and like literally asking that question every time we have to make a decision, but that kind of. It tints every decision that we make. It's sort of like this underlying current that helps to guide us when it comes to whether just different advertising opportunities that we're faced with, or just the kind of content and how it is that we want to approach topics.
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I think, too, one of the things, we don't really explicitly talk about our faith on the show a whole lot, and we've had listener emails from time to time. They're like, you said this on the show. That sounds like somebody who might go to church or have a specific kind of faith, and they want to ask more questions. We're more than happy to discuss it, but it's one of those things where there are people who are really outspoken about their faith who oftentimes do more harm than good, I think. And so it's not that we want to hide what we believe, but the reality is we've seen people use their faith sometimes as a cudgel when they're in places of prominence. And so we want to be careful how we talk about our faith. And so we'd rather live it out more than yell it out. But, yeah, we appreciate those questions. Questions. And. And so, yes, faith plays an important factor in our lives. Carol also said, do you have rules or guidelines for giving that help you overcome your natural frugality? Which I think is honestly, is, like, one of the toughest things I've had to wrestle with because I'm naturally frugal. And so giving money away feels painful in a lot of ways. And we reference the. The episode we just did, Matt, about giving money away. And. Yeah. So I think that is an important part of it for me is to.
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It's like a counterbalance.
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Yeah. And it helps me reframe what's true and remember what's true. The fact that I'm not promised tomorrow and that my money isn't what's going to save me. And so giving it away is part of something deeper and more important and more fundamental than probably we even talked about in that episode.
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Totally. All right, let's keep moving. Derek said, at this point, why haven't your families gone? The commune route seems like it could be the most frugal option. What do you think about that, Joel?
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We talked about it. We really did. Because when we talked about moving part, we talked about.
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Derek. That's closer to the truth than you realize.
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Yeah. We talked about moving south of town as opposed to north of town. And there was, like, this property with, like, a creek running through it and this giant house. We're like, what if we all hold up in this one house? Is there enough space for us? Or we could build. We even talked about, like, building Two places, side by side sort of thing.
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There's this lot that we looked at and it would have been a lot that you could. It was a pretty big lot. And the idea was to potentially purchase this home, demolish it, subdivide the lot, and then create two houses on it side by side.
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So if you didn't think we were weird already for having moved our whole
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families together, we were literally considering going this route. But I mean, honestly, I'm glad we didn't though, because some space is good,
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I think, especially for your family. Compared to like our family, we're more social beings and. And you guys, you love your neighbors. You guys love your people too. But I think we might be, if we were your next door neighbors, it might be a little intense for you guys.
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Yeah, we'd have to have like visiting hours like before this time and after this time. You are not allowed over here. Nobody. Nobody is allowed over.
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You'd have to build a taller fence to keep me out, probably. So. Oh, Sheila wants. She's been a listener for a long time and she and I actually go back to college, so. Sheila said. Sheila said. Tell them about your hitchhiking adventures. So, yeah, I don't mind doing that. Back in 2006, I guess I had my first job in radio. And it didn't pay much and it was morning radio, not just morning radio,
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but like early, early morning, early, early.
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So I had to wake up by like three. The show, I think was on from five to eight, and it was just like a punishing job. So I did it for like six months. It was an amazing learning experience. I'm so glad I did it. But then I quit the moment I could because it was just not ideal for me to wake up at that time. And I wanted to do something else, but I quit. Actually, I'd saved up enough money, even on this meager salary to go on a road trip around the country with one of my best buds at the time. And yeah, three months in an old beat up Honda Accord station wagon. Got to visit most of the United States, see some amazing spots. So those are my vagabonding months. And that's one of those things too. When you talk about like, compounding rates of return, Matt, and investing young, that's kind of one of those things that a traditional financial expert would tell you, no, no, no, don't do that. Those months are so important when you're young, but so are the memories, and so are like taking time away. And I saved up enough to make it happen and I'm so glad I still look back at those months with fondness, the people I met, the things I got to see, just kind of the learning experience that it was.
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Jason, he's asking if we keep a spreadsheet of all the craft beers that we've had on the show. And Jason, unfortunately, we don't have a spreadsheet, which sounds counter to how I like to approach life, but I do have a folder. It's a beer folder inside the how to Money folder on my desktop, on my computer. And so I'm able to quickly go in there when it comes to. Specifically when we're like, oh, have we had this beer on the show before? And then I can quickly jog my memory and be like, oh, yeah, no, we've already had that one. Or we haven't had one like that yet.
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B
And if you're wondering what we've had on the show before, what kinds of beers, specific ones, you just follow us on Instagram and you can scroll back through there pretty quickly and you can be like, oh, you can get a sense of which beers we've had.
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Try to post pictures of. Yeah. Of all the beers that we have. But ideally, man, we would have a single pager on the website that had every single beer listed out. And then maybe one of these days, I feel like that's something that we can hire out for someone to do, like on Fiverr or something.
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Yeah.
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But then you click the beer and then it links to the episode where
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we had that beer. That'd be cool.
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But, I mean, at this point, we've had, like, almost 400. 400 something.
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Yeah.
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We've had more episodes than beers because we don't have beers on Friday flights. And so that's why the numbers don't line up. Exactly. Actually related. Lydia, she asked if we've tried hop water before. Do you know what that is? Or she says, if not, would you. Would you try hop water? Joel?
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I don't know. I guess I'm not really sure what it is either. I think laganitis at one point came out with some sort of, like, infused. Infused water, but I'd give it a shot, but it's probably not something. I either want to drink water or I want to drink beer. I don't necessarily want the blend of the both, but maybe it's awesome.
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I'd give it a shot.
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If someone gives me one, I'll try it. All right, Josh wants to know, have either of you tried home brewing? And if so, how was the experience? I'll Start. No, have not tried home brewing. People ask me that all the time as a craft beer lover, but one the time it takes to get up to speed to become a decent home brewer seems like it would take a while and a lot of wasted, crappy beer that I have to drink in order to get there. And there's people doing it on such an amazing level. Like there's no way it's even possible for me. I mean, I don't want to say nothing's possible. It's not impossible, it's not possible, but it. How long would it take me to be able to brew a beer as good as other half's IPAs or as good as a barrel aged sour from Casey Brewing, Blending and Brewing? Or like it's just. It would take me so long to get anywhere near that vicinity, I'm just going to drink the good stuff that other people make.
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That's true. But there is some. I mean, there's a frugal side of it as well. Right. Because imagine once you did dial in, like right now we're drinking the double ipa. What if you were able to dial in a killer hazy double ipa? It's one that you're able to keep on draft at your house and anytime friends came over, you would, you had the honor, the joy to be able to pour them your very own double ipa.
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Yeah.
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How awesome would that be?
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No, that sounds really. Yeah, that sounds like really fun to be able to do that. We did talk with a brewery at one point about doing a collab beer, which would be really fun. I don't remember that well. So it's one of our favorites and it'd be really cool to get to go down there and brew a beer with them one day.
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Okay. Yeah.
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Yeah. So we'll see. I don't know, maybe that'll happen at some point.
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That would be awesome.
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B
That would be cool.
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A
Yeah, I've, I've tried it. I did it once early on in my craft beer career. And so because it was early on, I'm guessing I probably remember it being better than it actually was. But it was a Russian imperial stout and we brewed it, me and my roommate at the time, we brewed it with another friend of ours who was a pretty serious home brewer. But I remember it being solid. I even gave a couple bottles to my father in law because I thought he liked beer. I mean, he does like beer, but the macro produced lagers that are prefers
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the hop water, which is basically what Bud Light is, right?
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Exactly. Yeah. And so that was Josh, Lauren asked, do have any other craft beer equivalents besides beer?
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Joel yeah, we both do. And so that's one of those things where, yeah, we say a few craft beer equivalents. Right. So that you prioritize not just one thing, but typically for the average person, it's going to be something like three or four things. So my other craft beer equivalents, well, the thing is they change too. So I would have said international travel was one of those things 10 years ago. Pre kids, it was something we did at least once a year. We got to see some really great spots. Actually, we have a question about that later. But. But now that's kind of changed. We've actually. Our craft beer equivalent now is local Places to eat is one of those things. We spend more money eating out than we do on travel these days. It's just kind of gone up in our book. And hopefully that will change as we get older and we'll go back, we'll revert back to more travel once our kids get bigger. But one other thing I've always talked about on the show is folk art. We buy weird art. And that's something my wife and I are into. At least one piece a year.
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The weirder the better.
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B
The weirder the better. Joel always says, I know, I like the funky stuff. And we actually just went to a full art festival not too long ago, bought like four awesome pieces. But the cool thing was none of those pieces were more than 50 bucks even. So. But we're willing to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on a great piece of art once a year if we find the right thing.
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A
Yeah, like you said, craft beer equivalents, I think they do evolve and morph and change over time. So right now I would say my craft beer equivalent is most definitely paying for my CrossFit membership because it ain't cheap. Anybody who has not only joined a gym, but specifically joined a CrossFit gym knows that they can be quite expensive because you're not just paying for access to a bunch of weights that are sitting there or like a rowing machine, that kind of thing. You're paying for the jobs of a bunch of different trainers who are there guiding you through the movements and teaching you. And so for me right now, that's most definitely my splurge. It's CrossFit and actually little money tip a listener. I cannot remember her name, but she emailed in and shared after that episode. You know, we did the, you know, going full CrossFit on your finances a few weeks ago, but she emailed about this service called Street Parking, which is. It was something like 20 bucks a month, and it gives you access to programming. So obviously, you need to have some sort of foundation under your belt before you kind of dive into diying it at home. But this is totally an option that I think for a lot of folks who are looking to maintain that habit, but who are also looking to not pay off the nose for the expensive CrossFit membership, that's definitely worth checking out. Again, it is called street parking.
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B
Yeah, we'll link to that in the show notes as well, just so you can. You can check that out if you're interested. But, Matt, you would say that you don't necessarily. You don't have to have CrossFit, but for you, especially as you're learning, it's. It's really good. And for you, the coaching part is really.
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A
It's been awesome.
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B
Yeah. So. And you might not do it. It provides that perpetuity.
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A
Oh, yeah. Well. And that's. I thought what you were going to say is that I may not do it, except for the fact that I do have coaches not yelling at me, but just the accountability that comes with being there at the certain classes. Folks come to expect that you're going to be there. There's a certain level of accountability. So I guarantee I've done it more than I would have if it was just left to me at home by myself. But again, over time, if that's a discipline I can develop, and once I learn some of those basic movements, then I could. I mean, I am all about diying stuff and saving money and, you know, doing stuff at home. Thus the crafting beer, home brewing conversation we just had, Joel. But in this case, I'm just not quite there yet.
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B
Cool. Cool. All right. Well, maybe one of these days. But for now, you don't mind spending the money. It's one of those craft beer equivalents, when you name it like that.
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Totally my splurge.
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B
You know, it becomes a lot less difficult to funnel money in that direction when you've kind of named it as such.
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A
Well, yeah. I mean, that's the tough thing about it, though, is because it's typically at the beginning of the year, at the end of every calendar year, we sit down and we look ahead and we forecast and we dream and we decide sort of preemptively what we're going to spend our money on. And this was one that basically showed up in the middle of the year. And so because of that, I think there is sort of this sense of guilt. But I know next year it'll be a lot easier because it's something that we've already spent money on. And so I will then be able to say, no, this is something that is important. Whereas this year it kind of felt like it kind of found its way onto the budget without as much planning.
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B
Makes sense. Alright, so Lindsay wants to know, when did each of you become interested in money and financial literacy?
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A
Well, for me, I'll say that necessity is the mother of all inventions. I became interested in personal finances when I realized I didn't have any money. Like, I'd taken my first job out of college and I was realizing, man, my paycheck is not going nearly as far as I thought it would. And so that's when I learned about budgeting. That's when I created my first budgets at that point in time. It's also when I discovered Dave Ramsey, though. At that point I didn't have any debt, but I still realized the importance of budgeting specifically. And so, yeah, that started the process of me thinking about money, talking about it. Kate and I were engaged at that point in time as well. And so it was a discussion that her and I were having as well. So it wasn't just something I was doing, but it's something that we were talking about, which made it more comfortable, I think, for me to then talk about personal finances with other people. I think that may have led to me feeling comfortable with talking about money with you, Joel, which maybe ultimately helped lead us to the podcast as well. The fact that that was a part of our friendship early on was just talking about money for sure.
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B
Yeah. For me, you can hear the, the full, the longer version of the story in that, that podcast episode where Matt interviewed me about my money story. But childhood, it was, it was my parents not being great with money. It was about the troubles that, that caused, the fights. And so I tell kind of like the long form story in that one, but. And then, and then getting to work for a radio show that was for 15 years, that was all about personal finance, consumer advocacy.
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Yeah.
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B
And that combined with my past, like with, with what I'd experienced in childhood, just lit this flame in me for a career to do well with my own money and then help other people do the same.
- [23:49]
A
That's the perfect recipe for you. Last question here. Before the break, Kevin asked if you weren't financial gurus, which I'll put an asterisk next to that right there.
- [23:59]
B
Financial idiots. Yeah.
- [24:00]
A
What career do you think you would have gone for, Joel?
- [24:04]
B
All right, so I've always loved broadcasting. I got into radio because I thought it was the coolest medium to reach people. Long form audio to me is really the most effective way to get something across. And I love the relationship you can build with the listener just by being in their ears for 45 minutes, three days a week. And so. But for me it would have been being the Braves announcer. Probably like that's what I wanted to do.
- [24:25]
A
I did the dream job.
- [24:26]
B
Yeah, I took a sports broadcasting class in college. Do it. I mean, it's possible. It is possible.
- [24:30]
A
Like that's what's. I mean, I don't know, maybe it's easier for me to think this way because for you, I guess like it feels like a continuation of your previous career. But for me, being a photographer, this has been a completely massive pivot in my life. And so it's not very difficult for me to imagine a different future, I guess other than talking about money with you while drinking beer here on the show. But generally speaking, I found that one of the most rewarding aspects of what we do here on how to Money is seeing the positive impact on individuals lives. The fact that we've been able to encourage and provide the information for folks to completely change their life, to change the trajectory of their life has been incredibly rewarding. And so I guess kind of going, going along that path, like finding some way to like this is going to sound super woo woo, but like life coaching or like some sort of like general wellness. Money is one aspect of living a full, complete, happy life. But there are other aspects as well. Like, like physical fitness. I mean again, that's something that you and I have kind of thought more about recently. But like social wellness, spiritual health, mental health, like there are all these aspects of personal health that I think oftentimes get overlooked. And folks don't give all these other aspects the time that they should in order to find the balance that they need in their own lives.
- [25:47]
B
Some people just don't have the time or they feel like they're crunched and I get that.
- [25:50]
A
Or they don't feel that they have the time when instead it's like, well maybe if you weren't watching Netflix or watching whatever, like whatever it is that they're doing. I think if it's.
- [25:58]
B
We all waste a lot of time.
- [26:00]
A
Yes, I think we do. And I think oftentimes we're so focused on our careers or whatever specialty that we give all of our attention to that we don't give time for these things that would allow us to become like more generalists, basically, as opposed to specialists. And I think we might need more generalists in our world or at least more of a generalist approach when it comes to living a balanced life.
- [26:21]
B
All right, I got it. I like that. I like that. All right, so we thank you for all those questions. We got a bunch more we want to get to. Just so many, so many good ones that people sent in. So yeah, we'll get to our thoughts on a bunch more of your questions. We'll get to those right after this.
- [26:37]
A
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- [26:53]
B
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- [27:21]
A
spontaneously doing something extra for a loved one? Use Empower and get good at money so you can be a little bad. Join their 20 million customers today@empower.com not an Empower client, paid or sponsored. Okay, Joel, I am excited about this one. Here on the show, we are all about comparing prices to save money on so many things in life. So why wouldn't we compare prices for our next ride share? Taking a few seconds to check Lyft can save you real money on your next ride. I did this last time. I caught a ride home from the airport after some travel and guess who came out on top of it was Lyft. Don't just price check with your flights and phone plans and groceries. Comparing rideshare prices will help you to save money every time you ride. Save money. Check Lyft. All right, we're back from the break. Joel has hit the ground running. Nate, he is asking how many bikes do you individually have and what's the best one or ones that you like?
- [28:21]
B
Okay, I have two bikes. I don't know how many we have totally in our garage as a whole. Basically everyone in our family has one bike. I have Two. And that's because I have my road bike and I have my rad wagon. My rad wagon is the electric cargo bike. And so that helps me sling my kids around town and the road bike helps me sling myself around town. And that's all I've really felt like I needed. I've kind of considered getting a mountain bike, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.
- [28:49]
A
Yeah, we've got like around, I think around seven bikes likely to. I feel like our fleet is likely to increase over the years as. As the younger ones are riding more as well. But I've got two. I've got the. The Salsa, which is my gravel bike, which is the bike that I ride to work here in our office every single day. And then I've got the Yuba Mundo, which is the long tail cargo bike, which honestly I'm not riding nearly as much, which is kind of sad to think about, but maybe I should consider selling it.
- [29:17]
B
But your kids are getting older too.
- [29:18]
A
Yeah, they're getting older.
- [29:19]
B
I still take mine to school. You have to. Your school's not close.
- [29:22]
A
Exactly, exactly. But it's, yeah, definitely worth considering because I would love to have a road bike like you, Joel. Like the gravel bike, it's just like a general all purpose bike. Awesome for just banging around town, getting to wherever I need to go. But I would love to consider getting like a road bike to be able to get on the roads and just the ability to go fast.
- [29:39]
B
Do those 20 mile rides. Something like that.
- [29:41]
A
Absolutely, man. But yeah, I mean, but ultimately, Nate, I would say, like, if you're asking this because you are curious in getting a bike, I would say get whatever bike that you're going to be able to ride. And I think oftentimes utility biking is. It's basically underrated and that is finding ways to bike to some of the places that you're already going to go in life.
- [29:59]
B
As opposed to hybrid bikes, by the way, are typically perfect for a lot of people. They're somewhere in between, kind of like a gravel bike and a road bike. The tires are a little bit fatter. So yeah, I think that can be a good choice for a lot of folks.
- [30:10]
A
Yeah. And honestly, just to be honest, like the type of bike, like focusing on the gear oftentimes just gets over. It's overrated. I think the vast majority of the kind of biking that folks are looking to do can honestly be done on any type of bike. But that being said, those are the kind of bikes we have.
- [30:24]
B
All right, let's get to the easiest Question, Matt. This one's from James. He says, what are the three most important decisions you made in your lifetime? And then he says, what factors? You say, yes, exactly. What factors went into the outcome of those decisions? And he says, timing, luck, priorities, etc. So, all right, three most important decisions you made, buddy. What are they?
- [30:42]
A
I thought you were going to.
- [30:43]
B
You're going to start. You're going to kick this one. Well, I mean, I think who. Who I married. Huge. Huge. Like.
- [30:48]
A
All right, that was the first. Okay, that was the first one for you.
- [30:51]
B
I don't know that there's any more important decisions I've ever made because you're. You're basically tying your fate and your future to someone. And especially when you're. When you're young and you get married, like, you're kind of dumb. You grow a lot, and so you're hoping that you grow together in wisdom, in love. And so I just feel really fortunate to have been married to the right
- [31:10]
A
person and just the ability that hopefully your partner can provide you the balance that they can provide you. I would be such a worse human being if I hadn't married Kate.
- [31:18]
B
And you're already pretty bad.
- [31:20]
A
Could you imagine? Exactly. Could you imagine? I'm just kidding. So, yeah, that was totally my first one as well. I'm curious to see if our top three decisions mirror each other.
- [31:29]
B
Having kids, number two, it's been massively formational.
- [31:32]
A
I left the kids off.
- [31:34]
B
It's been huge for me. That just. Well, it's brought a lot of joy to my life, having kiddos, and it's also made me grow up in a way that. Ways that I otherwise would not have. So I think the ways in which. Yeah, you talked about your wife being formational. Mine, too, but my kids have formed me in major ways as well. And then faith. But I kind of think of faith as, like, this continual decision that I have to make in a similar direction. What Eugene Peterson, a theologian, calls a long obedience. In the same direction. I kind of think of that. My faith is that. So it's hard to boil down the three most important decisions of your life in, like, 30 seconds or less. But that's what I would tell James.
- [32:11]
A
Yeah. Because I would say that both of those last two are also very important to me, but I did not include kids or faith. So my second decision I put down was choosing to work for myself because just the entrepreneurship spirit that that instilled within me. I mean, I know I had a degree of that, but just actually doing that and getting a Taste for that freedom where nobody's necessarily setting my schedule for. Or in this case, it was Kate and I, we were working together and just the ability that we had, the freedom and the flexibility and the autonomy that we had during the. I mean, it was a decade plus that we had. Being able to live the life that we wanted to live was incredible. And there were times when I considered going back to, like, a more of a corporate nine to five kind of job. And every single time we considered it, we quickly came to the realization that there's no way that we can do this. Like, once you have a taste of, you know, what you and I would now call. I don't want to say that it's like good life, but the entrepreneurship life.
- [33:10]
B
Well, we've basically go back, become unemployable because we're so addicted to the kind of lifestyle where for me, being able to do that was largely. It was largely being in creative control. So in control. My own time was important, but just not being subject to someone, like, we want to go in this direction. And if I don't think that that's the right direction to go in, I don't have any say if I'm employed
- [33:31]
A
by someone else, by a giant machine, by a big cog.
- [33:34]
B
When it's our thing, it's just like you and I have to sign off on it, which I think is great. All right, what's your.
- [33:39]
A
Sometimes we have to flip a coin if it's 50. 50, though. So my last one. I'm going to really lay the guilt on you with this one. Joel is you my buddy, Joel. So not only just I did it crossed my mind.
- [33:50]
B
That was number four. I thought about it.
- [33:53]
A
Not only, like, obviously we had years and years of friendship and just, you know, the good memories, the awesome years of not only, like, you and me, but Kate and Emily traveling together, camping, holding each other's first babies.
- [34:05]
B
The only problem is it says decision that you made, and I chose you
- [34:09]
A
choosing to be friends. And so there's like this whole personal side of our friendship. But then you can also even sort of isolate it to financial because even before we started the company, before we started how to money, we were still. We were challenging each other from a financial standpoint. Right. Like we were saying, oh, what are you thinking about doing here? What are you thinking about doing with your tax refund? And in some circles, it would be. There would be a lot of talk about spending that in ways that would basically just lead to consumption, going to the Bahamas. But we were just Talking about ways to be smart with that money, ways to invest that money. And so there, like I know before we started how to money, we were. I can say that I know we were in a better financial spot because of our relationship with you and Emily. But then you add how to money or originally pour not poor, you add that to the mix and just the ability for that just to add even more fuel to the fire. The ability for us obviously to work together and spend inordinate, incredible amounts of time together. But then also too obviously, the business how to money, it's been profitable. It's something that we've been able to now do for full time for a couple years. It is incredible. So when I think about, I guess the most recent years, I'm like, man, that was a big stinking deal. Big hairy deal. Had we not met like, you know, 12 years ago.
- [35:17]
B
Sure. And think about the things we've done together. Just little things, but also big things like moving our families at the same time. So. Yeah. And when you find. I think that's one of the things.
- [35:26]
A
Sorry, dude, it's all my fault.
- [35:28]
B
No, it's been. It's been a lovely thing for, I think, both of our families, but that's one of those things too. I think we. We undervalue deep, meaningful friendship in our society. And we talked about the stats, I don't know, not too long ago, but people have fewer friends than they used to have, fewer deep friends that they can count on. And so when you have those friends, man, nurture those friendships, they're going to take you places, they're going to encourage you, especially.
- [35:49]
A
Especially all the men out there.
- [35:51]
B
Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
- [35:52]
A
Enough friends.
- [35:53]
B
And James mentioned timing, luck and priorities. I don't. Yeah, I think there's that question at the end of every. How I built this, about whether it was luck or skill. Right. And I think that's a really hard question to answer. I think there's both. Right. There's a lot of intentionality. There's a lot of good fortune. I think our parents have played a massive role in the people that we are wives have as well.
- [36:12]
A
So it's everything all together.
- [36:13]
B
It's a big old cauldron that's. That's stirring and a bunch of things thrown in. And so we feel really fortunate. We also try to work hard to live up to our standards. Right. That we have for this show, but for our families, for. For our broader goals.
- [36:28]
A
Yeah. I would say it's not like 50% luck, 50% hard work or discipline, whatever. It's like 100% of everything. It's. It's everything. It's all of it combined together in
- [36:38]
B
order to get us to where we're at. The math works on that. But I'll agree with you.
- [36:40]
A
100 plus 100% equals 100%.
- [36:43]
B
Paul, now you're starting to sound like a football coach.
- [36:46]
A
That's kind of what it feels like. Paul said. Tell us more about your long fitness goals, Joel. Do you have any?
- [36:51]
B
Not really. Honestly. It's funny, we did the crossfit your finances episode and when I was thinking about this question, I was like, my main thing is to be consistent, right?
- [36:59]
A
Yeah.
- [36:59]
B
My main thing is to slowly gain strength, is to get a little more fit. But I don't have any major thing. I'm talking with my brother in law about doing an abbreviated ironman like this, this, like it's basically like a sprint. Exactly. So it's like a 5k and like 700 yard swim and 14 mile, like. Right. I'm like, that's something I can do. Maybe that's a goal worth striving for, doing that in the spring. But no, my ultimate, I don't have any long term fitness goals. It's just to be consistent because for all of my life I've never really worked out and I've been fairly consistent here for like four months. And so I just want to keep that going.
- [37:31]
A
Yeah, yeah, same here. It's. I don't have like these. I mean, I want to be stronger. I want to be like. My ultimate goal is just to be healthy. I mean, the whole point is to have a functioning body that is able to, to allow me to do the things I want to do in life. Right. I think that's where like a focus on fitness and health can eclipse the other goals. Like what I would, would argue might be the more important things in life. Right. In this way, like health and fitness, it's like exercising. It's a means to an end in my mind. It's not the end in and of itself. Like, it's certainly fun and it's certainly something I enjoy. And I understand that there's a lot of folks who, who even make their living by coaching or being an instructor or a trainer, that kind of thing. But for me, I think for the common person, I think it's helpful to think about it as a means to an end rather than the thing in and of itself.
- [38:21]
B
Same thing with amassing money, right? It's like money is the tool. And if your goal is to amass Tons of money. Like I don't have a goal to like bench press £450. That's just not something I care about. And I think it's fine. If that's kind of the metric that you use, that's fine. Fine. And I think it's, I think it's more harmful in terms of money when I think your focus can be so much on amassing more and more that you forget that it's a tool to accomplish the things that matter, to partake in your craft beer equivalent and build wealth so that you can, so that you can amass freedom and then also find ways to get, give that money away to the benefit of other people. But malice get. Next question. This one comes from Tiana. She says if you were a first time home buyer in Atlanta, what areas would you recommend? I think we can be brief on this one. But we love, we love Atlanta. We just moved just north of the city, but we still think it's one of the greatest cities. And actually I think it was Money magazine said Atlanta's number one, the best city in the country and Atlanta's got it going on. I'm not going to disagree. Our fair city was ranked number 35 where we moved to actually interestingly enough. But I would say Capitol View and East Point. Oh yeah, those are the two neighborhoods. I would say look there because I think they have long term potential.
- [39:29]
A
I thought you'd have more specific neighborhoods. I feel like you, like you have your ear to the ground more when it comes to, to like newer up and coming neighborhoods. I thought I was going to say those and I thought you were going to be like, oh, those were, those are yesterday's neighborhoods.
- [39:39]
B
But no, I still really like those.
- [39:41]
A
But yeah, no, I agree with you.
- [39:42]
B
I think that Tri city area, that Hapeville, College Park, East Point, like all those are great towns. Just stuff going on down just out the town. And, and I think later on in the Facebook post she mentioned her budget. I think she said 425,000. And there are other neighborhoods that we could recommend. Just depends on the size of the house and stuff. Like, like we could say, oh, Inman Park's great. Inman park is a great neighborhood, but it's also really, really expensive. So if you're talking about living somewhere that is like has, is cool in town living but that doesn't cost a ridiculous amount of money. The, the couple of the neighborhoods I would consider truly are probably Capitol View and East Point.
- [40:16]
A
Yep. Sylvan Hills, that's near there, near Capitol View. Kind of that Perkinson park area. But, I mean, generally speaking, focus on neighborhoods, too. Like, don't just look at. At the financials, but look at the infrastructure. Look at what they. What those communities have that you're looking for when it comes to where it is that you want to live. But, you know, the ability to find a community, a neighborhood that feels like it's got some. Some Runway ahead of it, where you do see it improving.
- [40:40]
B
Yeah.
- [40:41]
A
And they're just waiting on those folks to show up and invest some of that. That time and energy into making those neighborhoods and making those communities into what it is that you and other folks were moving in, what you're looking for.
- [40:51]
B
And I think when you see a sense of neighborhood pride, stuff like community gardens, when I'm driving around, those kind of things, str. As, like, wait a second. Even though maybe this community hasn't been as loved or hasn't had the same infrastructure, like, input from city developers over the years, there's something happening here. And I think Capital View is one of those places where. And we've already seen, like, oh, yeah, a lot happen there in the past. You and I bought our first property.
- [41:15]
A
Yeah. But then with East Point, like, what's great about East Point is it's on the martyr line. And so you've got that direct public transit, that direct connection to the city. And so that's something that you don't want to overlook as well. Let's keep moving.
- [41:28]
B
Joel.
- [41:28]
A
Kyle says when naming your kids, did either of you have a name that you really wanted but your wife vetoed? Did you? That happened with y', all, you and Emily?
- [41:37]
B
Well, just the middle name for Ezra I really wanted. My dad's middle name is Luther. My grandpa was a Lutheran minister, and so I wanted Ezra's middle name to be Luther and Emily's.
- [41:46]
A
Like, I do that.
- [41:47]
B
I don't really like that. So now we went. He has my middle name and my dad's first name, which is. So it's Ezra David, but.
- [41:53]
A
Gotcha.
- [41:54]
B
And I do remember showing up at the hospital to meet your second daughter, and she was named something different than she is today.
- [42:00]
A
Well, we had named her, but the more we used her name there in the hospital, the more we realized this isn't her name. I don't know what it was, but it just didn't flow off the tongue like we were expecting. And so we literally. We called an audible, and we'd already told our parents and everything, but then when they showed up in the hospital, we told them her new Name and they thought we were joking. But I am specifically thinking of Kyle, our third daughter. I wanted to name Savannah because I've got this thing for girls that have boy sounding names like Andy. What's another one? There's a bunch of names out there that are traditionally considered boy names, but they can also be Taylor. Taylor. And so with Savannah, the idea was that we would name her Savannah. But I wanted to call her Van, which I thought was gonna be the coolest thing ever. Kate disagreed. She just couldn't get behind naming her like the super southern sounding name Savannah.
- [42:53]
B
Well, Van is the leading lady in Atlanta. Zazie Beats character's name, which still one of my all time favorite shows. All right, what's a hobby, Matt you aren't into but you wish you were?
- [43:05]
A
I'll go back to going back to home brewing. I kind of wish I was in. That was also one from Kyle, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Like if I was a master homebrewer. Again, the ability to have some amazing beer on hand. I wish I was into smoking meat. That's something that you've kind of gotten into. And I feel like I'm slowly testing the waters a little bit, getting a feel for. But it's not something I do at all right now. But I kind of wish I did.
- [43:25]
B
All right. I wish I read more. I wish I read books more. I read a lot of beer. I read a lot for the show. I read a lot during my 9 to 5. I wish I wasn't so dang tired at night that I could stay up and read more books. Also pickle, pickleball. Everybody's into it. I kind of want to get into it too. I want to join the bandwagon. I'm not going to lie.
- [43:42]
A
Have you ever played?
- [43:43]
B
I have not, no. I played one time I went over at her friend's house and I had a blast. Like it was one of the most fun things I've ever done. So I would totally do pickleball.
- [43:52]
A
Well, on a related note, what are some of the best non financial books that you've read? This is another one from Kyle.
- [43:58]
B
Anything by John Steinbeck and Anything and Everything by John Steinbeck. East of Eden is my number one favorite book of all time. I also like books on mortality. So When Breath Becomes Air and Being Mortal. Those are two of my favorite books as well.
- [44:11]
A
Those are good. One that stands up in my mind. The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. It's such a good book and I would recommend it for multiple reasons. One, it kind of explains like the polarized culture that we're in today. I think it explains a lot of how we arrived at that point. But then also for parents out there, as you are looking to raise resilient, adaptable, smart, functional children in this world, they spend a lot of time talking about like fragility and what it means to be anti fragile and what it means to be like a kid that can be just resilient in the world today. And so, yeah, just from a, just from a social commentary and it's backed by research as well, but it's interesting from that angle. But also from a parenting angle as well. I would recommend that one.
- [44:58]
B
Nice. Yeah, no, I like that. I like Jonathan Haidt is one of the social psychologists doing great work.
- [45:04]
A
Smart, smart dude.
- [45:05]
B
All right, Izzy says, does the daily stress of life go away when you are financially stable?
- [45:10]
A
What you think?
- [45:11]
B
No, no, no, I don't think it does. I think there's still a lot of things to stress you out in life, especially as a dad with kids who are going through a bunch of stuff. But I will say to not have money as a stressor in addition, and it's not that we don't stress about money at all. Right. But to have it largely off the table as something that creates arguments or something we have to worry about frequently. Yeah, no, it dials down the temperature of a lot of things that we have to discuss. And so I think it's really important to strive after a certain amount of financial independence, of more peace out money money, of just more margin in your life. Because I do think, yes, it will. It can make your relationships better. And it can, it can, it can mean that there's less money, becomes less of a source of constant friction.
- [45:56]
A
Yeah, it just depends on how many other daily stresses you have. If all of your daily stress comes down to financial anxieties that you might have, then yeah, having some financial margin, having that what you. She said financial stability, that would absolutely help. Right. Like to not have to worry about whether or not you're going to have your power cut off or the water turned off, like that kind of thing. Oh my gosh, yes. To be able to have some financial margin to where you can remove those worries from your plate, that is priceless. But at the same. So on one hand I would say yes, but on the other hand I would say no. Because it depends on what you then do with that additional margin. Because the typical cycle, I think most American consumers, they basically arrive at a certain point, they Remove a bunch of stresses from their life, but then they sign up for additional obligations, additional financial obligations that then add more stress to their life. Right.
- [46:48]
B
I've known people who are financially free, who are not in a good place, who are not happy people, and who are stressed out for other reasons. So even having enough money doesn't.
- [46:57]
A
Yes. If you're only looking at financial issues. Right. Like, does more money equal, like, less stress?
- [47:03]
B
Sure.
- [47:03]
A
And I think that depends on what you introduced into your life. And so what I was gonna say is that like, like you used to maybe be concerned with having your utilities cut off. Right. But then like, you mentioned like a boat earlier. But like, let's say you decide to buy a boat because you know What? This, in 2015, this is 2022, I'm in a place where I can afford a boat. Well, if you're barely getting by to where you can afford that boat payment or the additional expenses and like, it just escalates, like the wealthier you become if you continually sign up for additional debt obligations, essentially, those financial stresses can always be there. It's just you're stressing over things that you never would have thought you would have been stressing about in a previous life.
- [47:44]
B
Well, I guess I think I interpreted the question a little different because she said, does the daily stress of life go away? And look at Elon Musk, look at Roy Gates. Those guys probably pretty stressed out with divorces, with taking on, biting off way more than they can chew, buying a social media company.
- [47:59]
A
There will always be things that happen in the world. There will always be some sort of insta, like something that's gonna make your footing feel, standing on sand.
- [48:08]
B
And if you think that money is going to cure all of your ills, you're dead wrong. And so, yes, yes, I agree with that. Having more money, it's a tool and it can help certain things, but there's a lot of things that it can't speak to. There's a lot of things that it can't fix. So you have to know that going into it.
- [48:21]
A
All right, Joel, Alex asked, what are your favorite music genres?
- [48:25]
B
Okay, my all time favorite music genre, alt country. So not radio country, but the alt country stuff. So like old school. Ryan Adams. I like Jason Isbell. I like the Drive By Truckers. I like Tyler Childers.
- [48:37]
A
Right now, these are all the bands
- [48:38]
B
I've heard you mention, but and then just probably indie rock. So some people say, I like all the music. And I'm like, nah, I kind of
- [48:45]
A
like just a little bit We've got the indie rock. Indie rock overlap. Like, I lean more in, like, the electronica, like, post rock kind of genre. And so, I mean. I mean, I still am.
- [48:55]
B
You're a big guy. Shut up.
- [48:58]
A
I don't listen to as much music as I used to because it is oftentimes filled with podcasts and audiobooks. But like Radiohead. I probably have listened to more Radiohead than any other band in my entire life. Electronic, like Sunlux Taiko. So maybe a little bit more of that ambient electronic music. Yeah, but then, like. Like Bon Iver and like Sufjan. Like, these are all folks.
- [49:18]
B
That's where we overlap.
- [49:19]
A
Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of bands that we both like. It's not. But. But then I also, like. There's some bluegrass that I really like. I've been to. I think I've seen more Nickel Creek, not Nickelback, Nickel Creek shows than any other. Any other band in my entire life.
- [49:31]
B
You'd be in heaven if Nickelback opened up for Nickel. That would be, like, the top billing for you.
- [49:36]
A
I wish I could even sing a line or two of a Nickelback song just to drive the point home, but I don't, so I can't.
- [49:42]
B
All right, so on that note, Sandy says, what song? When it comes on the radio, can you not resist singing out loud to? Also, what movie? No matter when you tune in, do you have no choice but to stop and watch the rest because you love it so much?
- [49:52]
A
All right, I got the song. I would say any song on Third Eye Blind's debut album.
- [49:57]
B
Okay, yeah, that's a good answer.
- [49:58]
A
Literally, I think I know the words to every single song on that album.
- [50:01]
B
Emily and I saw them live recently. Sung along the whole time. Journey for me, probably almost any Journey song. Like, how can you not try to mimic Steve Perry, even though nobody can? Movie.
- [50:11]
A
I don't. I don't have a movie. Like, I mean, honestly, movies just aren't really a part of our life, and we rare. It's just. I don't feel like I can give an honest answer.
- [50:20]
B
Willy Wonka for me. Willy Wonka, the Chocolate Factory. Not the Johnny Depp version. Gosh darn it.
- [50:25]
A
The original.
- [50:25]
B
Hate that one. Sorry. I have a lot of animosity towards the Johnny Depp version because it's not nearly as good, and I'm obsessed. Like, Willie. That might be. That's top five movies of all time for me. So if I see it, it just brings back so much nostalgia. And I love the Gene Wilder's performance in that version. So it's fantastic. Yeah, it's a good one. All right, we've got more to get to. More Ask Me Anything questions from you guys. Our listeners will tackle a few extras right after this break.
- [50:57]
A
Is it just me or is it getting really hard to figure out the best way to save for retirement? Well, Fidelity can help you to find clarity so you can save the best way for you. With a free personalized plan, goal tracking, and timely insights, you'll be set to take on retirement your way.
- [51:13]
B
Get started@fidelity.com future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account. Apply Fidelity Brokerage Services member NYSE SIPC say you've always wanted to take a spontaneous trip to the Caribbean. Here's the thing. If you get smart with your money, you can do things like that. With Empower, you can start making the most of your money so you can go out and live a little. Isn't that why we work so hard to have some fun with our money, like treating yourself to something special or
- [51:41]
A
spontaneously doing something extra for a loved one? Use Empower and get good at money so you can be a little bad. Join their 20 million customers today@empower.com not an Empower client, paid or sponsored. Okay, Joel, I am excited about this one. Here on the show, we are all about comparing prices to save money on so many things in life. So why wouldn't we compare prices for our next ride share? Taking a few seconds to check Lyft can save you real money on your next ride. I did this the last time I caught a ride home from the airport after some travel and guess who came out on top? It was Lyft. Don't just price check with your flights and phone plans and groceries. Comparing rideshare prices will help you to save money every time you ride. Save money. Check Lyft. All right, we are back from the break. Joel, we've got a few more questions we're gonna get to. These are questions that listeners submitted in our Facebook group.
- [52:40]
B
Someone did want to know, partly because in the post I mentioned that we could cover your deepest, darkest secret if the question was asked.
- [52:45]
A
See this? We don't have time for that, Joel. Okay, I feel like even now we're gonna go a little bit long.
- [52:50]
B
Yeah, it's gonna be longer than usual. But hopefully as Matt pours his soul out in this third segment, it'll be
- [52:55]
A
this one is from Michael. How do you guys juggle family life and podcasting life more effectively? I'm sure, there's a learning curve, but when transitioning into self run business, what were your successes and pitfalls early on around family life and personal life? You got a response.
- [53:09]
B
So first things first. Starting something new and trying to do it at a high level means extra work when you're getting started. And so I think the key is communication, right? Like having that conversation with, with Emily was like, hey, if this is something that you're behind and you think it is a good idea for us to start and see what happens. Just letting you know, I'm going to be a little more absent and it's going to take more effort and work. But we think that there's light at the end of the tunnel, that this can be something. And so you have to have buy in and everyone kind of has to agree and you have to kind of continually come back to communicate about, okay, how's it going? And like, is it worth it for all the parties involved? So, yep, I don't know. It's a learning curve, but communication is key.
- [53:51]
A
I totally agree. Yeah, communication. And then I feel like, I mean, honestly, I learned a lot of these lessons when Kate and I started started our company doing photography. But it was our life. Like it consumed everything. It saturated every fiber of our being. Like every second of the day I felt like we were talking photography stuff. And that was great on one hand because it meant a very successful business, but on the other hand it was detrimental to our relationship. There was a lot of things that we didn't prioritize because we were so concerned with talk about business things. And so what that meant is I learned that for us, boundaries were really stinking important. And so for, you know what that means with how to money is keeping like fairly hard boundaries when it comes to the, you know, the work that we do here, you know, for the show, and then the life I lead at home. Like, the kids, like, they know that I've got a podcast that, you know, Daddy and Mr. Joel, they sit down and they talk about beer and they kind of like, I feel like our kids are starting to get older and they kind of make fun of us a little bit because they'll hear us pull up an episode in the car, like, we'll check it to make sure certain things are playing properly. You know, we're not sitting down listening to our own show. But they always kind of, I think they get excited the height of hubris when they hear our show come comes
- [55:00]
B
up if you're that in love with the sound of your own voice.
- [55:02]
A
But but otherwise, they don't really know much of what we do. And for me, I think that's. That's something. That's something I'm proud. I'm proud of. Granted, there's some overlap if I'm. I'll read an article or read a book or something like that that has to do with work at home, because I'm just interested in it. And there's certainly some overlap, but for the most part, in my life at least, it means there are some clear boundaries between work life and personal life.
- [55:23]
B
And that's probably too. Matt, while why you and I, we don't put ourselves out there on Instagram a whole lot. It would just be more invasive. And it's not that we're against. Obviously, we're answering all of your questions today, on today's episode. We don't mind sharing those things, but
- [55:36]
A
we are 100% working right now.
- [55:38]
B
Yes. And when it breaks into kind of our personal time, our personal lives, it's. We love meeting listeners, listener hangouts, we love answering your questions. Like, we love that engagement. But typically between the hours of like, 9, 9 to 5, like Monday through Thursday, half days on Fridays, and if we get whatever we can cram into there, into that time, it's like pure joy. And. Yeah, so. So for us, we gotta. We gotta make sure we keep those barriers intact so it doesn't feel like it's overwhelming the things we get to do and enjoy at home. Because that's the reason we're working, right? Yeah. To sustain our families and to. To be able to really enjoy the time that we have away from here, too. Totally. All right, Michael says, and this is an interesting one, he says most of the people advising folks on financial stability didn't get their wealth doing what they preached. They amassed it by selling a service, teaching you about it. He says I'd be curious to get a glimpse inside the financials of how running a podcast, investment properties, et cetera, produces income in your cases. In the past, you've referenced spouses, education goals and expected job dividends, etcetera, etcetera. But I don't think I've ever heard personal results.
- [56:43]
A
Well, okay, so Michael, you're saying that other folks are, he said, selling a service, teaching you about it. And I would argue that that is not all that different than what we are actually doing here on the show.
- [56:54]
B
I think that's what he's saying.
- [56:55]
A
Yeah.
- [56:56]
B
He's saying, like, so how do you. Did you. Are you guys only making money from the podcast or were you I read
- [57:01]
A
his question, as in like, you guys are practicing what you're preaching. But what I'm saying is that I feel like we're more, we've got more in common with those other folks who are out there selling themselves on the Internet then maybe it would appear, right? Like, I mean, like those folks have courses and classes and mastermind groups and all that kind of stuff that they're selling. And that's one model. But for us, like, we're talking about similar things, but we just have advertising. And so I guess what I'm highlighting here is that we're not all that different, I guess maybe from some of the other content creators out there. But maybe what's different then is the spirit in which we do things where we're not. I mean, sort of like what we were saying earlier, you know, the ability to, to ask the question, is this something that's going to be able to provide value to listeners? Being able to run decisions through that filter helps us to maybe approach everything that we do with a slightly different spirit than just what's that going to mean for our bottom line? How's this going to affect the income? That's not the question that you and I are asking ourselves.
- [57:55]
B
Right. Well, we also talk about things on the show that we have done personally, things that we've studied this stuff extensively and we've put it into practice. And so I think, I think there is the reality, like we've talked about on the show before, Matt, there's a lot of TikTok influencers that mean well, they just don't have the knowledge and they don't have the depth of knowledge from doing it for a lot of years. You have started your own business. You and I have been personal finance nerds on this journey for at least 15 years. And so. And it was my full time job producing a personal finance radio show for 15 years. So it's one of those things where, yeah, we're not 100% financially independent right now. Right. And income from the podcast is a good thing. It does help us put food on the table.
- [58:36]
A
Yeah, I mean, I would say like, so he was. Sorry to interrupt, like he was asking too, like how much of our income. Maybe he's asking that. Right? Like how much of that does come from the podcast? Yeah, and we don't have exact numbers, but like the majority of our income does come from the podcast and we
- [58:49]
B
each have a handful of rental properties which are definitely. Which means that we have income from other areas. And so do we need the income from the podcast. Like, yeah, we do need to the podcast right now. Do we need it five years from now? No, like we've, we've built up a reservoir as we've invested intelligently over the years and so no, like if the revenue of the podcast went to zero, that would be, that would be difficult. Right? Yeah, it's. But, but we are not, like you said, selling a service, teaching people about it. We have over the years, I would say, amassed our wealth by doing the things we talk about. And now putting those in out in podcast format is a way to making money. But it is also something that we're passionate about and that we have extensive knowledge about that we talk about regularly.
- [59:36]
A
Totally. Well, and the fact is if we, let's. Let's say for instance that iHeart just got canceled or went bankrupt or something like that, we could totally survive without income from the podcast. It's something that we are leaning into right now because honestly, it's the most fun thing that I do every day when it comes to the work that I do. It currently does make the most money from a time spent, but it also has the most potential as well. It totally has the most future potential, but the ability. There's other things that we are both interested in and I think it would not be difficult for us to kind of fire up these alternative sources of income if we wanted to. If all of a sudden I had eight hours of my day back every single day to then focus. Like it makes me think about like you hired property management recently and does that eat into your rental property income? Totally. But you're able to use that time in ways that you want to, whether it be with how to money or just the other things you're interested in. And so there's different trade offs that you make throughout life. And I think what's important is for there to be multiple options available to you. That doesn't mean that at certain times, at different given points in time that you're not leaning into one of those areas a little more heavily than you otherwise would.
- [60:49]
B
Yeah.
- [60:50]
A
Does that make sense?
- [60:50]
B
Yeah, no, it does. And I think the reality is there are a lot of people out there who have dabbled in some of these ideas who are still kind of fresh and new, but they do. They are good at social media or they are good at online content. And so they're trying to make their money on the backs of teaching people in a way that might be costly to them, although beneficial for the creator themselves. And so that is our goal is to avoid That I know podcast ads are annoying, but it's our goal to keep how to money content like free and readily available. We think that it's, it's advice and information that the masses need to hear that that everyone out there needs access to and there's nothing that needs to be behind a multi hundred dollar paywall. And hopefully we can keep all the content that we create free accessible down to earth. That's the goal.
- [61:38]
A
Absolutely. All right, let's hear from Katie. She said, I told a friend of mine about your podcast and your craft beer equivalent angle. Her response was, the problem is I have too many craft beer equivalents. So what would your advice be for someone like this who has a hard time narrowing down a few areas to splurge on? Joel, you have advice for Katie's friend?
- [61:56]
B
I would send her our money mission statement. It is something Speaking of free resources, this is something Matt and I took our time to create. We think that walking through these questions and answering them will be helpful to you and will be helpful specifically to your friend Katie as she's trying to hone in on a why. We think that when it's it's the Nietzsche quote, Matt, that he who has any why can bear any how it makes it easier to forego like frivolous purchases when you have a deeper why attached to where your money's going. So if you know, hey, I'm saving up for this really important goal over here, it's going to take me like 16 months to get there. Well, if you have a problem with frivolous purchases, it's actually going to help keep those in line when you know the bigger, more important thing that you're saving for. So. So yeah, the money mission statement hopefully will be helpful to her. It's free downloadable PDF we'll link to in the show notes knowing yeah, honing in on your why spending some time doing a little bit of like interior looking I think can help you figure out what matters to you. And then just in that process, it almost by necessity devalues a whole lot of other things that you did kind of prioritize, at least to some degree.
- [63:05]
A
That's right. Man, I love it.
- [63:06]
B
Well, can I just say too like I think, I think if you have a ton of craft beer equivalents, maybe you don't really get what that means because I think you have to zero in on a few things. That's true. And you can say that everything matters, but then if everything matters, then nothing really matters. And so you have to prioritize a few Things like, what are the things that really, really move the needle in your life? The more you can focus in on those things, zero in on those things, pour your money intentionally into those areas, it's going to move the needle and then those other things are going to look like. Well, they don't really matter in light of that.
- [63:33]
A
Yeah. Yeah. A lot of times it takes a little bit of soul searching to figure out what it is you truly value.
- [63:38]
B
You.
- [63:38]
A
Becca asked. She said favorite places you've traveled to and places you most want to travel to. If money or life phase, for instance, kids were no object. Joel.
- [63:49]
B
I'm gonna say probably our trip to Norway, Emily and I just, the two of us, was the best trip we've ever taken.
- [63:54]
A
Nice.
- [63:55]
B
Scotland is probably the place we most want to go.
- [63:57]
A
You Scotland? Absolutely. Because it combines two things I love. Fantastic drink.
- [64:02]
B
Yeah.
- [64:03]
A
With a country that is beautiful. And we're actually kind of talking with a friend of ours, actually, who's over in Scotland, and we're trying to find a way to make this trip happen. We gotta do it. But yeah, I mean, generally speaking, like, when I think about some of the favorite trips that Kate and I go on, it oftentimes does include natural beauty and just amazing food or drink.
- [64:22]
B
Usually a Buc Ees for you, not
- [64:25]
A
a Buc Ees, but like. So you mentioned a road trip that you went on with your friend, like years ago. Kate, I. We've only ever done this once, but we took a road trip out west and randomly kind of stopped in at some of the different wineries in Napa and Sonoma. And we could not believe how much we loved it out there. Because, I mean, obviously you've got some amazing wine. You're there talking to other folks who also are into it, but then they've got these trails that you can go hiking on. And so it was just this perfect combination of enjoying the land, but then enjoying the fruits of the land. I don't know, there was just something fully encompassing and where it felt like we were just fully immersed within this particular region. And I think, yeah, in a similar way, we would also get that in Scotland. And so, yeah, that's definitely at the top of our list as well.
- [65:09]
B
So hopefully how to money trip there soon. All right. Cherise says, what's one piece of non financial advice you want to instill in your kids?
- [65:16]
A
She's another big one. Do you have an answer for this one?
- [65:19]
B
I mean, just the thing I tell my kids all the time. Time. And it's what I want them to know is that they can do hard things. I think especially in an era of great wealth in this country where we have a lot of things at our fingertips, where we can order something on Amazon and get it that day or the next day, it's easy to become soft. And the reality is like, we need to know that we can do hard things. It is a comforting reality. And so I want to push my kids in that direction, not like make them sleep outside in the freezing cold or anything like that to develop some sort of hardness. But I want them to know they can do hard things and to tackle hard things, because I think that's where a lot of the joy in life comes from.
- [65:58]
A
Nice. I love it. I'm going to take it back to a recurring theme. Love. When we're talking about faith earlier on, I feel like that's kind of the underpinning of so much of what I at least try to do, right. And what it is that I, that we're trying to teach our kids, I mean, straight from the Bible, greater love has no one than this. He who lays down his life for his friends. That's a loose translation, but again, the ability to refer back to that and find ways to put others before yourself. I think that if I had to like distill it down, boil it down to, you know, what it is that we're trying to teach our kids, it would be that. And again, you can take that and go in whatever direction you want. You can take that and then go in the financial direction and figure out how that applies to your money. But that would be my, my response there. Joel, let's get to our last question. This is from Tori and she said if you had to pick an all time favorite beer, what would it be? And also Joshua asked, if there was only one style of beer that you could have for the rest of your life, what would it be? This is again one of those impossible questions, but do, do you have a favorite all time beer, Joel?
- [67:02]
B
You know, not really, but I would say I'd associate it with a memory. So when Emily and I were in Belgium, I just remember going to the Cantillon, drinking and drinking from the source, straight from the source. And so that, that's probably my favorite beer memory is those two days with her at Cantillone. But yeah, I don't know any raspberry sour is probably my favorite. Like that'd be the, this style that I'm really fond of. What, what would I want for the rest of my life? I don't Know, probably like the finest hazy IPAs in all likelihood. But I love fruited sours too.
- [67:30]
A
So, I mean, each beer has its own time, you know, I mean, I want different beers at different points in the year, and I can't even, like, season right now. I know, like, so I would say an underlying theme of all of my favorite beers oftentimes is that they're barrel aged. And so whether that's a barrel aged sour, a barrel age stout. But anytime a brewery is able to pull that off, it, man, aging beers on wood adds such an additional level of complexity of flavor that just takes it up to the next level.
- [68:00]
B
Would you drink a barrel aged Bud Light?
- [68:02]
A
I'd give it a shot. I totally would. Because honestly, that kind of sounds like, like innocent gun out of the UK or whatever or somewhere out of Europe.
- [68:10]
B
I'm sure innocent gun is better than that.
- [68:11]
A
But those are, I don't know, those are ales or lagers or something like that that are barrel aged. But I love that taste of oak or whatever woods that they, that they choose. And so I don't have a particular favorite beer or even a favorite style, but barrel aged sours, barrel aged stouts and those delicious hazy IPAs. That'll be my non answer to Tori and to Joshua.
- [68:32]
B
But I think the best, like, memories associated with great things to me are what, you know, it enhances the ability of, like, the taste is one thing, but like, how much more meaningful is the glass of wine you had when you were in Sonoma versus the bottle maybe you drank when you the one you bought at the grocery store, Maybe even from the same vineyard. Right. There's something about being there, participating, partaking,
- [68:57]
A
which is why, going back to Becca's question about where to travel, it's got to include somewhere with either good food or good drink.
- [69:04]
B
Yeah. And good nature.
- [69:05]
A
It's so important.
- [69:06]
B
For sure. All right, well, that's enough. Yeah, that was a lot.
- [69:09]
A
Wrap it up.
- [69:10]
B
Yeah. Thank you guys so much for submitting those questions. Some easy ones, some hard ones, but a lot of fun to get to go over those and maybe we'll do another one in the future if. If you have more hard hitting AMA questions for the how to money guys,
- [69:22]
A
we'll get another year.
- [69:23]
B
Yeah. All right. But let's get back to the beer we had on this episode. Matt, this one was called Double Top Double ipa. It was a collab between our local bottom bottle shop, Spraberry Bottle Shop, and Academia Brewing Company. What were your thoughts?
- [69:36]
A
I thought it was really solid, man. It has been a minute since we've had a hazy ipa, let alone a double here on the show. And because of my the slight cold that I have, I'm not totally sure if I was able to pick up all the nuances of flavor of the different types of hops that they use.
- [69:53]
B
I'll just say that there wasn't a ton of nuance. So I don't think it's your coldness.
- [69:56]
A
It wasn't me. It was good.
- [69:58]
B
It's a little sweet. Little sweet for my take, but it was still.
- [70:01]
A
It was still.
- [70:01]
B
I would say it's solid.
- [70:02]
A
Yeah. Solid beer. I'm glad you and I were able to enjoy this one today on the podcast, man. But that is going to be it for this episode. We actually did refer to a couple resources like the Money mission statement. So we'll be sure to link to that and others up on our show. Notes on the website@howtomoney.com for sure.
- [70:18]
B
But until next time, Matt Best friends out Best Friends. When you're ready to sell your business, how do you even find the right buyer? That's exactly what Transworld Business Advisors does. With over 250 offices globally, they give you access to a global network of 800,000 plus interested buyers while keeping your sale completely confidential. They handle the complexity so you can focus on running your business business.
- [70:58]
A
Good deals, good people. Visit tworld.com okay Joel, I am excited about this one. Here on the show we are all about comparing prices to save money on so many things in life. So why wouldn't we compare prices for our next ride share? Taking a few seconds to check, Lyft can save you real money on your next ride. I did this last time. I caught a ride home from the airport after some travel and guess who came out on top? It was Lyft. Lyft don't just price check with your flights and phone plans and groceries. Comparing rideshare prices will help you to save money every time you ride. Save money.
- [71:33]
B
Check Lyft say you've always wanted to take a spontaneous trip to the Caribbean. Here's the thing. If you get smart with your money, you can do things like that. With Empower, you can start making the most of your money so you can go out and live a little. Isn't that why we work so hard to have some fun with our money? Like treating yourself to something special.
- [71:49]
A
Special. Or spontaneously doing something extra for a loved one? Use empower and get good at money so you can be a little bad. Join their 20 million customers today@empower.com not an Empower client, paid or sponsored. This is an iHeart podcast.
- [72:08]
B
Guaranteed human.