Podcast appearances and mentions of Dave Ramsey

Dave Ramsey lays out why debt is the greatest enemy of financial freedom and how Baby Step Two — the debt snowball — breaks its grip. With humor and blunt truth, he explains how debt steals your income, normalizes broke behavior, and delays generosity, wealth, and peace. Freedom begins when payments end.JOIN QOD CLUB. Ready to find your people? Join QOD Club and connect with a community of likeminded QOD listeners. Get weekly Monday Mentorship calls, Wednesday Book Club discussions, ad-free QOD episodes, and access to Money Mind Academy. Plus, online business trainings — marketing, social media, podcasting, and more — coming in January. Start your 30-day trial today for only $9!GET MY TOP 28 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: Click here to get your free copy of “28 Books That Will Rewire Your Mindset for Success and Self-Mastery” curated by yours truly!Source: Financial Peace (

As the holiday cheer permeates our day-to-day, know that that same kind of energy and excitement can be found in your practice year-round! Kiera talks traditions, countdowns, and culture from a dentistry perspective. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and it's Christmas Eve. You guys know that I'm obsessed with holidays. I'm obsessed with this time of year. I'm obsessed with just so many fun things. And I hope you guys are like, yes, listen to the podcast. Sure. But I hope that more than that, you're hanging out with your families. And if you don't celebrate the holidays, I hope you're taking this time to celebrate you and to just be there with you. guys, I just love the holidays. think that Christmas is more than just about   present and like those traditions and all of that. I think it's just like the anticipation of what's coming next. And I think one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is like the excitement that we feel leading up to it. My husband and I were on a really fun trip this year, but we had to plan the trip in like two weeks and I actually missed the anticipation leading up to it. So with the holidays, I feel like every single year we get this anticipation, we get this gift, we get this same excitement that   I really do hope that you guys are feeling that same excitement that hopefully you're feeling for Christmas Eve tonight, going into the excitement into your dental offices for 2026. Like just think about it, you guys, we are about to wrap a bow on 2025, roll into 2026. And I think that energy, that excitement, that fun, that zest, this is really what brings the magic of the season. This is why the holidays are so special. It's time for us to sit back. It's time for us to reflect. It's time to get out of our routines. And I really just hope that you guys are giving yourself the greatest gift of anticipation.   but I hope that it's anticipation with a thought out plan. I know there can be anticipation for Christmas when I have not thought about family and it is a frantic scramble. And if you are that office for 2026, I would encourage you to not be that office. There are better ways where I actually like to have our entire year gets wrapped up by December 15th so I can go into the holidays, have a good time. ⁓ I like to have my Christmas gifts all bought usually around.   Halloween. I like to just have it done and out of the way. And I would hope that the anticipation of how great the year is going to be how great the holidays will be how excited you are for people to get this rather than in the frantic scramble because both can be anticipation both can be great gifts. But I hope that you're giving yourself the gift of like true joy and anticipation of the excitement of the year to come rather than the frantic frazzles. So guys, if you don't know me, I'm Kiera Dent. ⁓   founder and CEO of Dental A Team. love all things dentistry. I love helping dentists and their teams find happiness. Life is my passion, dentistry is my platform, and truly to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. Like this is something where I just hope that teams and doctors have excitement for what's ahead and that your team and you feel energized and not exhausted. And if you feel exhausted, that's okay. We've got solutions for you and I'm here to help you with that ⁓ because   I really do believe that you and your team can crush it. And as we're on Christmas Eve, you guys, my family is so fun. Jason said when he joined our family that Christmas and the holidays were just a good time. Like it has always been so magical. ⁓ Christmas Eve, we're going to be hanging out with family. And it's been fun because we shifted it up. I was selfish. And for the first several years of our marriage, I was with my siblings because my little sister is 15 years younger than me. And so   I really want to be a part of my siblings' lives. I wanted to be there and be close to them. And Jason was so accommodating. He was the youngest of his family. And so all of his siblings were grown, that we went to my family for so many years. So Christmas Eve with his family is very different. And the anticipation and the excitement, I was a little disappointed last year when we were with his family versus my family, but it was so fun. And we were able to make new traditions and...   we were able to create fun things and his dad, I made his parents who are much older, they Jason has a complete accident, ⁓ do family Christmas pajamas and matching with us and to be able to create new memories and new holidays. And I really do think that the energy and excitement and the love that we feel at this time of year can be something that you can also do with your own practices. So ⁓ I think that like,   getting anticipation with clear goals is going to be super, super beneficial for you guys. just like when we were kids and counting down the Christmas, teams also can get excited with this countdown to goals and to what's coming up and what the vision for 2026 is. And so I just really would encourage you right now, if you haven't done it or it's in the process, create goals and topics and conversations that your team can get super jazzed and excited about. Having a vision, having a fun year.   Every year I theme my year and you guys it's not too late. Like we're only on December 24th. You still have like a week before this year is over. So take the time, give yourself a theme, something to look forward to, something that you and your team can anticipate with excitement and counting down ⁓ of clear annual goals, clear quarterly goals, and then like celebrate those milestones as they come up. Like when we hit them, what are we doing to celebrate?   and have countdowns and visual trackers just like we have advent calendars. In my family, my mom was awesome. There were seven kids in my family and each of us had an advent calendar where we'd count down the days to Christmas. And I think, why don't we bring that fun, that zest, that excitement into our teams? Why are we sitting here like, hey, we hit production. No, like let's add the spice, let's add the fun. I think teams get really excited. People are like, what is different about Dental A Team over other consulting companies? And I'm like, what's different is we bring fun and excitement and get results.   That's what's different. Like why not make your practice a little more fun? So I think that you guys could build like a gold tree in December where every like scheduled case you get is an ornament and it can be super, super fun. Like you guys don't want to bear Christmas tree. So maybe consider that. Maybe we have something that kicks off in January where we have snowflakes and or we donate and we give back. Like we talked about at Thanksgiving time. Could you create visual countdowns for Thanksgiving where it's like   for all the number of cases we do, we're gonna donate to a family in need. I don't know. There's so many ways you can do it. And I don't think doctors, is for you. This is why it's a Dental A Team and dentist and team podcast. Team members, like let's get your ideas. Let's get you on the podcast. Listen to this episode, share this with your team. But like, how can we build visual countdowns and have a fun time? Because again, the anticipation with clear goals is what's gonna help you guys this season. So number two, I think something that you guys can do is like,   just like on Christmas Eve, like build traditions that fuel culture. I was talking to an office and they were dressing up as wicked. And I said, my gosh, are you guys gonna go to the wicked opening? And they hadn't thought about that, like wicked part two. And like, that's the fun stuff that fuels culture. So like, what can we do just like at the holidays? Like we all get excited for the charcuterie boards or for the matching pajamas or for stockings or in my family, we did baby stockings on the tree in addition to regular stockings.   We had countdown chains, had advent calendars. The holidays are so special because of the traditions. And so what traditions can you guys put into place in your practice? So could we have our tradition at like end of quarters when we crush it, we do X, Y, Z that people can look forward to it. We can get excited for it, that our goals are leading us to these like fun ideas. Could we do annual CE trips or retreats that everybody looks forward to? Our company cut them and then they got sad about it. And then we like, I get it.   There can be pieces, but like this is culture. Our team all gets excited for fun Friday on morning huddle. We all get excited for ⁓ Wednesday is core value shout out days. Like all these little things drive and thrive with culture. And so what can you guys do that can make it fun? Can we have a shout out jar that everybody gets gifts? Can we do like, I don't know, once a quarter, we do a, our favorite things, gift swap. So many little things that are going to just building traditions that are going to fuel your culture because   We have the countdown of anticipation of goals, but goals are not met with crummy cultures. A lot of times when I look at offices, I'm like, how is the culture? How was the leader? Those things are going to impact you far more than anything else. And so what is the tradition of culture that you guys can do? And I have a practice and they started celebrating their team. So every single month they had shout out jars and we shifted a whole culture who used to be like mean girls status. They were actually just women. There were men too, but like the movie mean girls.   to being this team of loyalty, of camaraderie, my team was even that way. I remember saying like, I felt like I used to be on Johnny Depp's ship. I was in the middle of the ocean, my boat was burning. My team was not a great culture. And when you start to do these little culture burns, so for us it's Friday five, it's the shout outs every single Wednesday, it's annual retreats, it's two events in person, it's our holiday party, everybody gets excited for it. Live to give is a part of our company.   First Friday of the month in our team is half day Fridays. Those of you who work on Fridays, you know that's a big deal. Those of you who don't work Fridays, pretend it's a half day Thursday. But just things that your team can really just get excited about. And so I'd say like, pick maybe one team tradition that you can start in January and carry all year long. And this does not mean doctors, have to do it. Luckily in every quarter, there are three months and there are usually three departments in a practice. We've got our front office team. We've got our dental assistants and our hygienists. If we wanna do...   front office, clinical team, dental assistants and hygienists and doctors. You can do that too, but you can rotate. So that way there's traditions, there's things that we look forward to. There's an office who does Dip Tuesday and they bring all sorts of dips, ⁓ vegetable dip, chip dip, you name it. And they just have a ton of fun. And I think that's what makes work not feel like work. That's what makes us, ⁓ holidays to me are the sprinkles on a cupcake. The cupcakes nice, but when I get sprinkles added, it's more fun.   And so traditions and anticipation and countdown, just like the holidays, that's what's more fun. Those are the sprinkles. Those are the sparkles. Those are the excitement. ⁓ And then I think step three on this of like, how can we build this anticipation within our practices is for you to truly like giving a gift of growth. And that is oftentimes like we talked about the anticipation, the excitement. And so growth is going to be what helps your team thrive.   I remember Tony Robbins, you guys know I love Tony. He said that progress equals happiness. And so in your team, what is the progress for each team member? What are the things that they can grow towards? How are we growing as a team? So are we doing new systems? Are we doing new processes? Are we going to expand the roles? Are we going to have consulting or CE that's gonna open doors and help us see things differently? My team was so excited. Like they weren't thrilled when I hired ⁓ a consultant.   But I will tell you, it's been one of the greatest things that we have ever done for our team. Like, of course, they're excited, they're consultants, but they also thought they knew everything. They knew what we needed to do. ⁓ to have somebody come in with new perspectives, new ideas, how are you gonna be able to help grow your team? And I would also say, in addition to this, not just growing them professionally, but personally. So every year I do meet with my team, I wanna find out what are their personal goals, what are their professional goals, and how can I look for little ways   to help them achieve those goals. So when I know someone wants to pay off student debt, or I know somebody wants to buy a house, or I know they want to learn about something, Dave Ramsey's got a class. ⁓ This person wants to buy a house. I help connect them with realtors. Like whatever you can do to make dreams and wishes come true for your team. I think as business owners, as leaders, this is honestly one of the greatest gifts that we're able to give our team. And so just recognizing the gift and the responsibility, just to be able to help your team.   to grow them, to elevate them and to help them. So I really do believe that when you invest in your team, you give them growth opportunities, you're able to establish them into these incredible humans, not just employees. This is when we get excited. looking at this, like, you can even talk to your team, like, what's a skill you wanna learn this year? What's your personal goals you wanna learn? And then invest in them. ⁓ Brittany Stone, no BS, Britt has said it to me many times, to me and to our clients.   do you look at your team as an asset or a liability? And I think about that often, and if you see them as an asset, you treat them differently than you do if they're a liability. And so when we look at this and we get excited about it, like there's so much anticipation today of all the days of the year. think Christmas Eve is probably one of the most anticipated days of the whole year. There's such a beautiful space. And so for this, how can we get anticipation, tradition and growth?   and bring this magic into your practice. I think that's a beautiful gift that you guys can give. so really it's like, bonuses are nice, growth is nice, but it's anticipation that I think is a secret sauce of it. Like I said, and there's the anticipation of knowing where we're going, where we're headed and having those direct goals versus the anticipation and the terror. Both are anticipation, but anticipation that's exciting, anticipation that's fun, anticipation that's predictable, anticipation that creates spice and magic for your team.   And I think this is how you build a team of flourishing people. This is how you build a team that wants to flourish. This is how you build a team that's bought in. This is how you build a culture that's raving team member fans. This is how you build a culture that people want to be a part of. And then you start to post about these things. You share, you talk about it. This is what we do. This is who we are. Your team thrives. You thrive. And so today, tonight, as you're dreaming about what you're going to get tomorrow morning, I also hope you dream about what your practice is going to get next year.   ⁓ What are the little fun traditions that you can put into place? What are the different little pieces that you can do for your team? What is the anticipation that we can put in place? I love the ideas of like having countdowns to things like how do get these fun countdowns? How do we build traditions that will be so fun? How do we give the gift of growth to our entire team? How can you truly flourish and grow your team? I think is something that you deserve to have. And so your practice can be as exciting.   as Christmas Eve, Christmas morning. And I'm not here to say that it's every single day, but it doesn't have to be draining. It can be fun. And I think this is how we add spice, energy, and fuel to our businesses and to our lives is by doing the unexpected, by doing the things that bring joy and happiness to all of us. So I hope that you guys take this on. I hope that you know that at Dental A Team, we help you guys build goals and traditions and systems that really do create magic all year long.   that help create aha moments to give support and strength to your teams. So doctors, you don't have to do this alone. You don't have to carry the whole sleigh by yourself. You can actually have other people help you with this and to inspire and to change your team, I think is one of the greatest gifts I gave my team. And if you're thinking about it, I'd encourage you to give that gift to your team as well. So if you guys want that, if you want to feel energized and not burn out next year, if you want to unwrap the gift of growth and excitement for 2026, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com   I want to help you. want to make sure that you guys are flourishing and thriving and not just surviving. And I hope you guys have the happiest Christmas, the happiest holidays that you think about this, that you get excited to create little traditions. Pass this along. If you're not creative, pass this on to a team member. Have them listen to it. Share this with a colleague. Have it where it's a competition between you and another person. We've got to make things fun in life. And I hope that you guys just know that I'm cheering for you. I'm rooting for you. And I'm here to serve you. I'm here to support with you. And I'm here to grow with you.   because I do believe that you deserve magic and you deserve ease in your practice. You're worth it. You deserve it. So reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.  

In this solo-style episode, Travis and his producer Eric react to a viral Dave Ramsey clip where Dave flexes having a zero credit score while owning a campus worth roughly $500 million—and use it to unpack how “no credit, no debt ever” advice lands for people who aren't billionaires. The conversation explores the tension between hating the credit system, still needing to function inside it, and the practical realities of renting apartments, buying cars, and getting mortgages in the real world.​ On this episode we talk about: Dave Ramsey's “my FICO score is zero” flex, why it's objectively impressive, and why it doesn't translate cleanly to normal earners.​ How the credit system actually works in practice—hard inquiries, utilization, and why Travis once saw his score drop to the high 500s despite never missing a payment.​ The difference between disagreeing with how the game is set up and refusing to play it at all when you still need housing, transportation, or business funding.​ Why obsessing over cutting every $10 expense is usually less productive than figuring out how to earn more so gas prices and coupon clipping stop running your life.​ The line between using credit as a tool (responsibly) and using “points hacking” as an excuse for financial gymnastics that don't move the needle.​ Top 3 Takeaways The credit system is deeply flawed, but pretending it doesn't exist usually hurts regular people far more than it hurts multimillionaires who can just write checks.​ A strong credit profile—on-time payments, low utilization, limited hard inquiries—gives you options: better rates, easier approvals, and real emergency flexibility.​ It's more powerful to focus on making more money and using the system intelligently than to chase the moral high ground of having no credit score at all.​ Notable Quotes “I agree the system is dumb—but also, it's the system that's there.”​ “It's objectively better to have a good credit score than to have no credit score or a bad one.”​ “You're doing more mental gymnastics to brag that you have no credit score than you would be just managing a couple of cards responsibly.”​ ✖️✖️✖️✖️

Betsy Pepine is a Best-Selling author, Founder, CEO, and serial entrepreneur in real estate who is passionate about helping at-risk families with children. She founded a 501( c ) 3 non-profit foundation called Pepine Gives, which helps families who are facing housing insecurity. Betsy also earned an economics degree from Duke University and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and her work has been endorsed by Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran as well as media personalities Dave Ramsey and Glenn Beck. Her best-selling book is titled "Breaking Boxes: Dismantling the Metaphorical Boxes that Bind Us," where she encourages readers to transform their mindset and challenge norms to live the life they want and deserve. Betsy shares her fascinating journey as well as valuable tips and insights on how all of us can live our lives to the fullest by breaking boxes, transforming our mindset, and challenging norms. Download this uplifting, positive, and empowering episode to hear her story and discover how to live life on your terms! Connect with Betsy:     https://www.betsypepine.com/ https://www.facebook.com/betsypepine https://www.youtube.com/@BetsyPepine https://www.instagram.com/betsypepine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/betsypepine/ https://www.tiktok.com/@gainesvillerealtor https://substack.com/@betsypepine Want to be a guest on TheFemiNinjaProject? Send Cheryl Ilov a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1620842117560x116520069523704300  

Dave Ramsey talks about the goals that challenged him and built the foundation for what exists today. Get the blueprint for creating unstoppable momentum in your own business.    Next Steps: ·     

New research from David Blanchett, head of retirement research at PGIM, challenges one of the biggest assumptions in retirement planning: that happiness in retirement depends on maintaining a constant—or even increasing—level of spending. ⬇️ Upon entering retirement, households experience a median consumption decline of about 20%. This drop is often viewed as a red flag in traditional financial planning models. However, Blanchett argues that this decline is not necessarily problematic, especially when you look at how financial well-being changes over time. ☎️ Then on our listener question, we hear from a 34-year-old investor who's been all-in on stocks since taking Dave Ramsey's advice early in their career. Now, they're wondering how and when to start easing into a more balanced portfolio with bonds.  We'll talk strategy, psychology, and sprinkle in some data on market highs that might surprise you. Resource: Article by John Manganaro from ThinkAdvisor: Spending Drops in Retirement, but Satisfaction Doesn't: Blanchett Connect with Benjamin Brandt Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: http://retirementstartstodayradio.com Subscribe to the newsletter: https://retirementstartstodayradio.com/newsletter Work with Benjamin: https://retirementstartstoday.com/start Follow Retirement Starts Today in:Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or iHeart Get the book!Retirement Starts Today: Your Non-financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement  

Maybe you've been told to put your money where your mouth is, but have you ever been told to put your money where your values are? In this What's Brewing episode we take a step away from doing mission to exploring a new way to make mission possible. Blake Smith hosts Karsten Kasmar, founder of Real Hope Advisors, to discuss values-based financial management. Karsten emphasizes that everyone has wealth, not just the financially affluent, and shares his journey from financial instability to helping others align their finances with their values. Karsten encourages listeners to decide who and what they want to be in the world and then find ways, in community, to make it a whole-life reality.  Books mentioned by Karsten: “Total Money Makeover,” by Dave Ramsey “Finance for the People” by Paco de Leon  Have a question for Karsten? Email him at: karsten@realhopeadvisors.com Listen to more episodes in the What's Brewing series. Download the Transcript. Thanks for listening to Faith Unfiltered!Follow us on Facebook and Instagram!Intro and Outro music used with permission: “For Everyone Born,” Community of Christ Sings #285. Music © 2006 Brian Mann, admin. General Board of Global Ministries t/a GBGMusik, 458 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30308. copyright@umcmission.org “The Trees of the Field,” Community of Christ Sings # 645, Music © 1975 Stuart Dauerman, Lillenas Publishing Company (admin. Music Services). All music for this episode was performed by Dr. Jan Kraybill, and produced by Chad Godfrey. NOTE: The series that make up Faith Unfiltered explore the unique spiritual and theological gifts Community of Christ offers for today's world. Although Faith Unfiltered is a Ministry of Community of Christ. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those speaking and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Community of Christ.

Top 5 Mistakes Wealthy Investors Must Avoid in 2026Start 2026 with the end in mind. If you earn $200k plus or you have a seven figure portfolio, a few avoidable mistakes can cost six or seven figures over a lifetime. In this episode Andrew Nida from Asset Management Group, Inc. breaks down the five mistakes wealthy investors must avoid in 2026 and how to align investments, taxes, and cash flow with the outcomes you actually want.Even high-income earners and retirees often make significant financial errors. This video addresses common mistakes that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, emphasizing the importance of effective financial planning. We discuss how coordinating cash flow, taxes, and risk is crucial for sound financial management, especially as tax planning strategies evolve.

Responding to Dave Ramsey's Credit Card Arguments | Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast Dave Ramsey says, “No credit cards.” I say, “It depends.” In this episode, Justin Vacula reacts to a recent Dave Ramsey clip and explains how credit cards can be a smart tool for business expenses and travel. We get into the real math behind points and cashback, the psychology of spending, and why one-size-fits-all advice from Dave Ramsey misses the mark. You'll also hear updates on upcoming meetups and events, plus a quick intro to tools that can help you track, optimize, and actually use your rewards. Original video I respond to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9za0VwqANY&t=6s Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 01:52 Dave Ramsey's credit card advice 02:37 Caller question on business credit cards 03:39 Debate on credit card benefits 05:39 Dave's perspective on points 08:01 Critique of Dave Ramsey's arguments 12:33 Credit card strategies 17:53 The debit card dilemma 18:18 Dave's imaginary scenarios 19:13 Credit card benefits for business owners 24:18 Ice cream analogy 27:42 Psychology of money and credit cards 31:41 Dave's one-size-fits-all advice 32:55 Conclusion and announcements —

In this episode, Dominic Rubino breaks down what Dave Ramsey and Robert Kiyosaki would tell every shop owner, contractor, and builder about going from cashflow headaches to true profit power. Whether you run a cabinet shop, millwork shop, HVAC company, electrical crew, or remodeling business, this is a simple roadmap for taking control of your money — instead of letting money control you. ⭐ What You'll Learn in This Episode • How cashflow is the "breathing" of your company • Why most shops lose money in small daily leaks • Dave Ramsey's approach to discipline and financial control • Robert Kiyosaki's mindset shift from operator → investor • How to make money work for you (not the other way around) • The difference between bookkeepers, accountants, controllers & CFOs • Why mindset affects your balance sheet • How to build long-term wealth as a contract

In this Ask Me Anything episode, Ryan Michler and Kipp Sorensen tackle the number one issue facing men today: money. From scarcity mindset and debt to retirement planning, investing, and raising financially responsible kids, the conversation blends practical financial wisdom with deeper insights on discipline, self-belief, and values.  Ryan breaks down Dave Ramsey's baby steps, explains Roth vs. traditional IRAs, challenges popular budgeting rules, and shares how to instill abundance thinking in your family. A must-listen for men looking to build wealth without losing perspective. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 Financial stress and the current economy 03:46 Physical baseline and discipline 08:59 Scarcity vs. abundance mindset 19:23 Dave Ramsey's seven baby steps 26:01 Roth IRA vs. traditional IRA 34:45 The 50-30-20 budgeting rule 37:29 Building wealth in an underpaid career 45:08 Teaching kids financial discipline 56:18 Iron Council and end-of-year call to action Battle Planners: Pick yours up today! Order Ryan's new book, The Masculinity Manifesto. For more information on the Iron Council brotherhood. Want maximum health, wealth, relationships, and abundance in your life? Sign up for our free course, 30 Days to Battle Ready

A classic TRM episode that starts with Tom's ill-fated attempt to cross a flooded Snoqualmie River (spoiler: no walking on water) and turns into a timely lesson on market returns, diversification, and why comparing your portfolio to headline numbers is usually a mistake. Don and Tom unpack eye-popping 2025 performance across U.S., international, bonds, and small-cap value, warn against recency bias and overpriced active funds, and take several listener calls on Roth conversions, bad custodians, debt forgiveness taxes, and rollover mechanics. The show wraps with Don's well-earned victory lap for Seasons Readings, now rubbing shoulders with Julie Andrews and Hugh Bonneville in Apple's fiction charts. 0:04 Tom gets stranded by flooding after a questionable river-crossing idea 1:40 Flood damage reality check and sympathy for displaced homeowners 2:22 Market year-end context and “Dave Ramsey average” returns 3:32 Bond funds surprise with strong year-to-date performance 4:05 International and global funds crush expectations 5:46 Why your return may lag headlines: allocation, costs, and recency bias 6:20 Apples-to-apples portfolio comparisons matter 9:26 Active funds underperforming despite a strong market year 10:47 Global diversification pays off big in 2025 12:04 January prerecorded show tease and holiday logistics 13:25 Seasons Readings featured by Apple Podcasts—downloads explode 15:18 Fiction chart brag: sandwiched between Julie Andrews and Hugh Bonneville 16:25 Listener call: John Hancock IRA, forced conversions, and bad advice 19:06 Why liquidating inside an IRA is not a taxable event 20:17 Exposing high-cost, loaded funds and custodian nonsense 23:35 Listener question: Roth conversions, pensions, and IRMAA timing 26:36 Why “top tax bracket forever” is usually a myth 27:31 Listener call: debt settlement and taxable forgiveness income 30:13 When a 1099-C is a good deal anyway 31:56 Flood-era investment scams and terrible ideas 35:55 Clarifying direct rollovers vs. taking possession of funds 38:13 Roth IRAs for young earners—yes, even pizza money Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SummaryIn this episode of Money Mondays, Benjamin Lee discusses the concept of opportunity cost, emphasizing its importance for both children and adults. He explains how opportunity cost affects financial decisions and offers practical advice on managing money wisely. The conversation covers the significance of pausing before making purchases, the value of accountability partners, and the idea that money is meant to be spent wisely. Benjamin encourages listeners to consider future opportunities when making financial choices.TakeawaysOpportunity cost is a crucial concept in financial decision-making.It's important to teach children about opportunity cost.Adults also need to understand opportunity cost in their spending.Hitting the pause button can help in making better financial choices.Having an accountability partner can provide valuable perspective on spending.Money should be spent wisely, not hoarded.Consider future opportunities before making impulsive purchases.Planning and budgeting can prevent unnecessary debt.Understanding the value of money can lead to better financial habits.Financial literacy is essential for all ages.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Money Monday and Opportunity Cost03:16 Understanding Opportunity Cost in Financial DecisionsBooks, Blogs, and Podcast at https://benjaminlee.blogFor all my episodes visit https://icandopodcast.comBooks mentioned in EpisodeSmart Money Smart Kids by Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze

#241: Dr. John Delony is a bestselling author, mental health and wellness expert, and host of The Dr. John Delony Show.John holds two PhDs — one in counselor education and supervision and another in higher education administration.He is the author of the bestselling books Own Your Past, Change Your Future and Redefining Anxiety. His newest book, Building a Non-Anxious Life, released this past fall. John has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business and Today and has been featured in the Real Simple and Fast Company magazines as well as HuffPost. He has also been a guest on shows such as, The Minimalist Podcast, The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast and the Mind Pump Podcast. While speaking he shares stages with people like Dave Ramsey, Malcolm Gladwell, Nick Saban, and Jocko Willink, Jaimie Kern Lima, Jordan Peterson, and more. Before joining Ramsey Solutions, John spent two decades working as a senior leader, researcher, and professor at multiple universities. He also spent years working in crisis and emergency response. John's goal is to help people navigate tough decisions, improve their relationships, and believe they're worth being well. By doing so he teaches people how to reclaim their lives from the madness of the modern world. Follow John on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter.This is a great show so be sure and takes notes. Amazon Book Link:https://www.amazon.com/Building-Non-Anxious-Life-John-Delony/dp/B0C27Q9GQL/ref=asc_df_B0C27Q9GQL/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=652398953211&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15310727651871392435&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1024323&hvtargid=pla-2189495460191&psc=1&mcid=536612f239f03333876f85739167e491 

This week, Angela discuss the real value of a million dollars in retirement and how to approach financial planning in a personalized way. She emphasizes that financial advice should not be cookie-cutter and must consider individual circumstances, risk tolerance, and future goals. Key Takeaways

Dave Ramsey joined Mike to explain how a federal interest rate cut could impact the average American.

This episode sponsored by Shannon Robnett Industries   LightSpeed VT: https://www.lightspeedvt.com/ Dropping Bombs Podcast: https://www.droppingbombs.com/ In this game-changing Dropping Bombs episode, second-generation developer Shannon Robnett reveals how ground-up development destroys traditional buy-and-hold syndication.  With $425 million in completed projects and $140 million under management, Shannon breaks down the brutal lessons from losing $5 million in '08, surviving addiction recovery, and rebuilding to consistent 25% investor returns through tax-advantaged multifamily and industrial deals.   Shannon breaks down the secrets separating legitimate operators from hype machines, the refinance strategy returning 60% of capital by year three, and why Dave Ramsey's debt philosophy leaves billions on the table—plus the exact questions to ask before investing a single dollar. If you're ready to escape landlord hell and let your money work while you sleep, this episode is your blueprint.

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Good sleep so complicated. There are endless tips about screens and supplements and gadgets that promise better rest, but most of us aren't thinking about the three biggest levers that actually move the needle. The quality of your sleep is really a reflection of how you lived your day. When you challenge yourself physically, challenge yourself mentally and clear the things that are weighing on you, your body naturally shifts into deeper, more restorative rest.  Sleep improves when your body is tired in the right ways, your mind has worked enough to want a break and your stress is addressed instead of pushed to the side. Today we are breaking sleep down to three simple, powerful habits that human performance experts say will help you get the best sleep of your life by focusing on how you show up during the day.     Human performance experts like Chris Williamson, Alex Hormozi, Gary Brecka and Casey Means all point to the same truth Hack 1: Exhaust yourself physically during the day • When your body is physically spent, you fall asleep faster and sleep deeper. • Being busy is not the same as being physically active. Movement creates real sleep pressure. • Getting steps in, lifting something heavy, walking more, sweating a little and staying on your feet helps your body crave rest at night. • Huberman and Matthew Walker both explain that daily movement increases adenosine, which builds the urge to sleep. • Kelly LeVeque and Casey Means show how balanced blood sugar from movement reduces nighttime cortisol spikes. • Gary Brecka talks about completing the physiological stress cycle so the nervous system knows it's safe to shut down. • Examples: long walks, workouts, organizing or cleaning days, anything that gets your heart rate up or keeps you consistently moving. Hack 2: Exhaust yourself mentally by challenging your brain • Most people feel mentally busy but not mentally challenged, which leaves the brain restless at night. • Learn something, solve something, try something new, figure something out, read, study, dive into a topic. • When you grow mentally and make progress, your brain feels complete and ready for rest. • Chris Williamson says nighttime overthinking often comes from not using the mind in a meaningful way during the day. • Alex Hormozi emphasizes that progress, even small progress, lowers internal friction and mental clutter. • Casey Means explains how real cognitive engagement stabilizes dopamine, which lowers the nighttime seeking behavior that keeps people scrolling instead of sleeping. • Neuroscience research shows that learning increases the brain's need for REM sleep because it needs to file those memories. • Examples: learning new systems, improving a process, starting a new skill, working on something that feels mentally tricky or step heavy. Hack 3: Solve your problems during the day so your mind can rest at night • Nothing disrupts sleep more than unresolved stress or conversations that still need to be had. • The crumbs metaphor works perfectly here. Just like crumbs irritate you all night, unresolved issues do the same mentally. • Have the conversations, apologize, forgive, clear the air, make progress on debt, take one step toward the thing you've been avoiding. • Gary Vee talks often about how anxiety comes from avoiding the very thing we know we need to do. • Dave Ramsey points out that money problems are one of the biggest sleep killers and even a simple plan reduces that load. • Gary Brecka explains how mental stress raises cortisol and keeps your system in high alert, which blocks deep sleep. • Huberman suggests cognitive unloading, writing everything down, to calm the brain before bed. • Matthew Walker reminds us that sleep cannot negotiate with an anxious mind. • Suggestions: write everything down, even if you can't talk to the person yet, get clarity in writing, pick one step toward solving your biggest stressor so you can rest knowing you are in motion. •Inhale the good, exhale the bad. When you really think about these three habits, you realize that great sleep isn't just a nighttime routine. It's the natural reward for how intentionally you live your day. When you move your body, challenge your mind and clear the things that are weighing on you, your system settles in a way that no gadget or supplement can replace. You go to bed feeling complete instead of overwhelmed, tired in the right ways instead of drained in the wrong ones. These three simple practices will change the way you rest and the way you wake up. Better sleep leads to better days, and better days lead to a better life. You truly can create the best sleep of your life by designing the kind of day that makes peaceful rest the obvious, automatic outcome.

We would love to hear your feedback!We tear into the hidden math of gig work, from bonuses that look great on paper to car notes that choke your margins. A spill, a triple batch, a Lyft perk change, and a Waymo near a felony stop all point to the same lesson: treat this like a business or the job will run you.• stocking cleanup gear for fast recovery in the car• using stackable bonuses to lift weak orders• denying low-value trips and avoiding deadhead• why expensive cars for rideshare rarely add up• Lyft rewards changes and what to watch next• Uber Eats scheduling screens in select markets• multi-apping with two phones without verification flags• when to cancel add-ons like mall drops on peak days• Waymo's blind spot near a police stop and human judgment• BabyQuip and laundry apps as micro-business playsGo to patreon.com/theGigEconPodcast to get live Patreon bonuses, pre-ramble, and moreSupport the showEverything Gig Economy Podcast Related: Download the audio podcast Newsletter Octopus is a mobile entertainment tablet for your riders. Earn 100.00 per month for having the tablet in your car! No cost for the driver! Want to earn more and stay safe? Download Maxymo Love the show? You now have the opportunity to support the show with some great rewards by becoming a Patron. Tier #2 we offer free merch, an Extra in-depth podcast per month, and an NSFW pre-show https://www.patreon.com/thegigeconpodcast The Gig Economy Podcast Group. Download Telegram 1st, then click on the link to join. TikTok Subscribe on Youtube

This is not a difficult philosophy, but Dave Ramsey has made a career out of this advice. We talk to Don Tracy, IL Republican candidate for US Senate, and we also talk Weird Al songs.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptGood morning. Sounds like a couple of you might have what I got the other week. So I apologize if at some point I have to cough or drink out of the water here this morning. But as has already been mentioned this morning, we are in the middle of our Give series. And so every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we as a church take the opportunity, while our culture is pressing in on us with a message of consumerism, to look to the scriptures. What does Jesus have to say about what is an appropriate way for us to approach our money and our stuff? And at the center of it, at the heart of it, is giving that he gave himself. And so we want to look at what it looks like to be generous people. And as a part of our Give series, we have what we call a Give project. And so every year we have an opportunity to partner with some organization, mission opportunity, ministry, something, somewhere, someone in need that we can help fill the gap in as a church by giving of our money, giving of our time, resources, whatever it might be that year.This year we've been focusing on international mission work. And last week Chet got to introduce phase one of our project. So if you weren't here, I'm going to briefly explain what we're doing in this phase one. We are partnering with mission organization based in Mexico called elam. And they specifically help partner with local churches in Mexico to share the gospel to people who don't know. And one of the ways that we specifically get to partner with them is that several times a year they do short term mission trips, medical mission trips into indigenous communities in Mexico where they go in trying to help meet physical needs of people, whether it be that they have a hard time seeing, hard time hearing, so some ailment in their body, and that is a doorway by which they use to partner with local churches to share the deeper spiritual need of the gospel of Jesus. And so we're specifically helping raise funds for that avenue of ministry that they do.We're looking to provide for them an enclosed trailer so that they can transport materials. And then we're also looking to fill that trailer with all sorts of medical equipment for them as they do this work. So I'm excited that thus far we have been able to raise in the last week a little over $7,000 toward this project, which is exciting. Yes, very exciting. And so right now, if for some reason this all had to stop, we'd at least be able to at this point be able to purchase them a closed in trailer where they could transport their supplies. But we're hoping we get to continue and we get to continue to raise funds. We're looking for another $15,000 for this part of our project where we get to fill this trailer full of medical equipment to help them, equip them for the work that they are doing. And then Chet's going to come back at the end of this morning and introduce what phase two of this project is. And this is really a great opportunity for us as a church to give toward the mission that God is doing in these other mission organizations. And not only is it a good opportunity for us to give to them and in this participation of giving, this is a good opportunity for us to have our own hearts drawn in toward the mission that God is working across the world.Today that's what we're going to be looking at in this passage. Jesus is going to be specifically addressing the orientation of our own hearts toward our stuff and our money. So let me pray and then we'll dive into the text. Father, we thank you that you first gave to us. And so we pray that this season, as we are pressed in to think that we should take and that it's about us, that we would consider others as more important than ourselves, like you did, and that we would be people of generosity. This morning, would your word speak to us? Would it inform what it looks like for us to be followers of Jesus? In his name we pray. Amen.If you will, you can turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter six. We're going to be in verses 19 to 24. If you don't have a Bible with you, you can use one of the blue ones in the chair, chair in front of you. That's going to be on page 473 as you're turning there to give a brief context to the passage that we're going to be in. Because we're just jumping right into the middle of the book. We are in the Gospel of Matthew. So this is an account of the life of Jesus, his ministry on earth. And specifically in chapter six, we're in the section that is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. So this is the longest chunk of Jesus's teaching that we have in a row back to back, where he's sitting down and teaching his disciples. Specifically in the Gospel of Matthew, the main theme is the kingdom of God coming. And so he has a whole scope, a broad scope of topics that he's teaching on. What does it look like for the kingdom to be coming here and now? And if you actually look inside of those three chapters, 5, 6, and 7. And look at all the individual things he talks about. There's one that stands out that he talks about more than any other, and that is specifically our relationship to money, our relationship to our material possessions. And so that's what we're going to be looking at.In this passage today, Jesus is going to be taking us on a journey from our outward experience with the material things with money, down into the inner experience with money and stuff. And he's going to do so in sets of two. So I'm going to cheat. I'm going to tell you exactly what we're going to talk about all morning, and then we'll get to go in more detail. So first, Jesus is going to teach on two different treasures. Two different treasures. Then he's going to teach us about two different eyes. Eyes. And then he's going to teach us about two different masters. And that's where we will finish out this morning. But first we'll start with two treasures. So let's read starting in verse 19, Jesus says,> "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19–21, ESV)So Jesus starts out by comparing laying up treasures on earth with laying up treasures in heaven. Don't do the one, do the other. So let's take this one at a time to start off. First, Jesus says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Now, what exactly does he mean by this? On the surface level, I think we can understand the basic principle of don't store up too much stuff on earth here. But how much is too much? Can I store a little bit? Dave Ramsey told me that I should save $1,000, then I should pay off all my debt, and then have three to six months worth of an emergency fund. Can I have an emergency fund? Is that something I should have? We don't even have to go outside the text for this question to come up. In Proverbs 21:20> "Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it." (Proverbs 21:20, ESV)So it's wise to have money, to have treasure stored up. But I thought that's what we're not supposed to do. Well, before we get too confused here, let's take a step back, look at the full context of what Jesus is teaching here. Because I definitely don't think the Bible is contradicting itself. I just think that Jesus is after something different than what this proverb is. So let's go back to the text, read it a little bit more in its full context. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.The other month, my wife and I got to go to the State Museum, the South Carolina State Museum we were actually invited to. It was. Apparently you can rent like the lobby space. So it was a private event after hours. It was a wedding ceremony, reception that was being held afterwards. So we're there, we're having a great time, and then we find out like halfway through this event that apparently when you rent the space, you also get access, or at least when they rented the space, we had access to all the different floors of all the different exhibits. So we thought, perfect, we're here, let's take advantage of it. So there was like nobody in the museum. We're just walking around, having a great time. And on that first floor, when you walk in, you know, you got that big shark that's hanging down from the ceiling and you get to walk through. It's like the prehistoric exhibits and stuff. And we come across this one that I'm looking at, and it's called a fossil, a petrified fossil. I'm like, wow, that's pretty cool. It's impressive. It's been a while since I've been in the State Museum. And then I'm looking at it, it's not like in any enclosing, it's just out in the open. So I start reading in more detail. This is a replica of a. Immediately as soon as I read that, my care for this went from really to almost not. I could have seen a picture on the Internet of a replica of a petrified fossil. And so we move on from that. We're going through the different floors. Eventually we're on that top floor, which is like the Revolutionary War and Civil War memorabilia, and they got the Industrial Revolution stuff. And right in the middle of all that, there's this like 15 foot by 15 foot structure, which is apparently an old house that used to be used as like a schoolhouse where they would have gathered. And walking in, I'm walking on the floorboards, I start to read the description. This is the real deal. Apparently the boards that I'm standing on, the ceiling that I can touch, not just because I'm tall, because it's also short ceiling. Everything about this structure, it was the real deal. It was actual history from back in that time. Now, I'm assuming they probably deconstructed it and put up pieces in and put it back together. But this is really it. It's like from the 1800s, this old building. And I'm amazed being able to stand in here. I'm just taking it all in, soaking it all in. And the reason that it was so exciting is because it's not supposed to be there. That's not our experience with stuff. When was the last time you came across something from the 1800s? I don't know. You can go to the State Museum, you can see that. But this is the reason why we would even have something like a museum, that we would get excited about walking around and looking at old things. But because old things aren't supposed to last, that's not our experience. Things fade, they break. It's why we have to have replicas of fossils, because they're not around. That's our experience. So Jesus is saying, don't lay up treasures on earth because moth and rust destroy. Because stuff, it crumbles and falls apart.He continues on. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Now notice here that Jesus isn't condemning laying up treasure. He's just telling us where there's a better place to put it. Now, what would you say if I told you that there is a house that has zero maintenance issues and zero maintenance fees? Can you imagine that maybe. No. I get one head nod back and think, no, it doesn't exist. If you could maybe envision it, it's possible that you have in your head that you don't have the maintenance issues or fees, but somebody else does and you just get to live there. Because that's not what we're used to. Stuff breaks, it falls apart. But if we take Jesus at his word for what he says, do you know that there's a place in which the things that you and I possess, they never fade? It never breaks. Did you know that there's a place where your check engine light never comes on again? There is a place where your H Vac unit doesn't make that weird clunking noise every time it turns on? There's a place where your phone screen no longer has a crack running right through the middle of it? Or that you know that Tupperware that you've got positioned just right under that leaky faucet underneath the little shutoff valve? Yeah. You know that Tupperware. You know it's there. That valve Never leaks again. That's a real place. And if you start to really think about it and consider it, I want to be there. Don't you want to be there? What would it look like for us to invest in that kind of place? Because Jesus says that kind of treasure, it never fades. And it's found in heaven is what he says.It's found in the place where the glory and the presence of God is perfectly and fully manifested. And the story of the Scriptures is that that place, that heaven at the end of this time will come to be with us here on this earth, that that perfect place where the glory of God is perfectly displayed, where things don't ever break, things don't ever end, it comes to be with us. And Jesus says that he's going there to prepare a place for us. There's a seat at the table of the feast of the wedding lamb. The imagery at the end of the Book of Revelation, it's filled with beauty and wonder. The streets lined with gold walls and buildings held up by foundations of precious stone. A perfectly clear river running through the city, with a tree of life ever producing perfect fruit. Treasure abounds. Everlasting treasure abounds there in that place.Now, laying up treasure in that place, I think it looks a little bit different than what you and I are used to because we're very physical, tangible, immediate response type people, right? And so it's easy for us to look at, you know, like numbers on a bank account screen. And that feels tangible as like a storing up of treasure. It's easy to think about the house or the car, the toys and the trinkets, because it's immediate feedback stuff. We invested our time, our energy, our money, whatever it is, and immediately there's something there. But when it comes up, when it comes to laying up treasures and heaven, Jesus says things like this in the Gospel of Luke, chapter six. He says,> "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets." (Luke 6:22–23, ESV)A little later he says,> "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil." (Luke 6:35, ESV)A little later in the Gospel are in, Jesus says this, and whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water, because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.> "And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42, ESV)Or in the Sermon on the Mount itself, chapter six, a little bit earlier than where we're reading. Jesus says,> "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:3–4, ESV)So this isn't quite as simple as hitting the Buy now button on the Amazon app and two days later a package arriving at your door. Maybe it looks a little bit something like this. Maybe you don't get invited to go hang out with the co workers at dinner after work because you've been labeled as one of those weird Christians. You've talked about Jesus one too many times for their comfort. Maybe it looks like you know that next door neighbor of yours that seems to hide out in the bushes with binoculars and wait until there's one too many leaves in your yard to report you to the hoa. Well, one week, you know, you notice his car has been in the same spot in the driveway for longer than usual and the leaves are piling up. So this is finally your opportunity to go and blow his leaves into your yard so that you can pick them up. Or maybe it looks like something as simple as carrying some cold water bottles in your car on a hot summer South Carolina day so you can hand out to the beggar at the side of the intersection. Maybe it looks something like someone in your group is talking about how money's tight and the grocery budget is really slimming up and they don't know exactly how it's going to work this month. And so the rest of you talk and deliberate. You get some money together, a couple, you go down to Walmart and you fill up bags with food and you go take it to their house and drop it off. This is the kind of stuff that it looks like to participate in storing up treasures in heaven. I'm sure we can continue on with different types of examples, but what Jesus tells us as well in this, if you were paying attention to these different references, Jesus says that the Father sees it all, the Father sees it, and in his justice will reward every effort that is made.Now at the end of this comparison between the storing of treasures on earth, storing treasures on heaven, Jesus gives us the reason why. In verse 21 he says this. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Very basic principle. You care about the things that you put money into. I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't know if you knew this, but before six years ago I never cared about the property at 327 Piney Grove Road, which, if you don't know me, that's my home address. You can send mail there or something. I'll accept a Christmas card. Never cared. So pre2019, didn't ever think about it. Now, here's the rest of the secret. For the last six years, I have cared more about the property at 327 Piney Grove Road than any other property in my life. Because for the past six years, my wife and I have lived there. We've invested our time, our resources into making a home for us and our family and people to come over. But it's just how it works. Wherever we put our money, wherever we put our resources, our time, that's what we care about. We start to be drawn into that thing. Maybe we never cared about it before, it's just a thing, but we started investing our money, our time. All of a sudden, our heart is drawn there. In other words, Jesus is telling us, don't store up treasures on earth, not just because it doesn't last. That's an important thing to understand. It's because when we start storing up treasure here in this place, where does our heart go? Our heart starts to be drawn to this temporary space. But if we start to invest, if we start to store up treasures in heaven, where does our heart go? Our heart goes to that eternal kingdom. Our heart begins to care about, be drawn toward the Father, toward his work, toward his glory. That's what we care about when we start to do that.So this brings us all back to that confusion where we started off. Here, Jesus says, don't store up treasures on earth. The proverb we read said, the wise man has it there. But remember that Jesus is after something else. That proverb, it's. It's teaching us about practical wisdom, of, you know, having a budget and being good stewards of the things we have. But Jesus, he's turning us in a different direction. He's focusing on the heart. So I think that when we ask the question, how much is too much? We've just asked the wrong question. And not just that, but actually if we ask that question, which I think we all have, if we've come across this, it exposes our heart that we don't know what Jesus is talking about. If that's our question, how much is too much? So I think rather the better question is, how can I store as much treasure as possible in the eternal kingdom? I think that's the better question. How can I store as much treasure as possible in the eternal kingdom? Because it's what Matters, it's what lasts. So when we're asking that first question, we've got our eyes in the wrong place. And that's why Jesus doesn't stop there, he continues on. So he's going to move on from talking about two treasures to now talking about two different eyes.Verse 22.> "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6:22–23, ESV)So we've got a healthy eye and we've got a bad eye. Now I'll be honest with you, this illustration throws me for a loop just about every time that I come across and read it because I get stuck like envisioning a lamp in place of somebody's eyes on a face. And it's just a weird image and it throws me off and I get all tangled up. But I think it's actually much simpler than that when we slow down when we read it. And very basic principle here that we all understand. A lamp gives light. And so a lamp that's working well provides light. A lamp that doesn't work, no light, it's just darkness, you know. I help with our student ministry to middle and high school students. And so we have student nights during the fall and spring semester. We meet here in the building and we always play some kind of game. I like to have something fun and exciting put together and I'm always trying to figure out what's the game that they like most to play. Over the years I found they really love to play hide and seek. It's one of their favorite games. However, they do not want to play that in August because in August at 5:36 o', clock, the sun is still about 3/4 in the sky and this whole place is lit up. And it's not very challenging to hide or to seek. But November comes, the time changes. The sun at 5:36 o' clock is already down. It's dark everywhere in here. We turn the lights off, we have appropriate safety measures, boundaries, and the leaders spread out and the kids get to go and they get to hide. And now it's challenging because now you can't see there's no lamp that's giving off light to participate. So this is a basic principle that we understand about light and darkness being able to navigate this space.So if we hold on to that idea and then we also. There's one other thing that I think is helpful at Least it's helpful for me when reading this verse. Reading this message that Jesus is saying is substituting in the definition for the word I. And so the definition that I think Jesus has in mind when he says the word I is how you view your stuff and money. So in other words, it would read like this. Now, what's about to be up on the screen in parentheses, that's my own words, not the words of Scripture, but you can track with me here. So if Jesus were to say it this way with the definition instead of the word, it would read something like this. How you view your stuff in money is the lamp of the body. So if the way you view your stuff and money is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if the way you view your stuff and money is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? So our view of our stuff and our money, it shines a light into our inner being. At least it has the opportunity to shine a light into our inner being. Because if we have a healthy approach to our stuff and our money, it exposes that we have light. Or in other words, remember what we just talked about earlier, that we can see, we can navigate, we understand the world as it is, and we can appropriately engage with things. And more importantly, we can appropriately engage with people because we have a healthy approach and understanding of what this stuff is. But if we have an unhealthy view of our money and of our possessions, then it's darkness. All of a sudden, it becomes challenging to navigate this space that we live in. All of a sudden, it becomes challenging to relate to people because we don't have an appropriate understanding of what this stuff is, what money is.Now, I think a fair question to ask would be, what is a healthy or an unhealthy view of our stuff and our money? That's an appropriate question that flows out of this. Now, unfortunately, we don't have the time to dive the full depths of that question, and Scripture has much to say on it. So I think we would be wise to consider that question in our own hearts and then see what the Scripture teaches. But we can at the very least right now refer back to what we have already just labored to understand because Jesus has been teaching on this idea. A good starting point of having a healthy view of our money and our stuff is knowing that it's temporary. It's temporary. It's not all that it's cracked up to be, especially compared to the worth that awaits us in the eternal kingdom. I think that when we start to see our stuff and our money as just dust that's packaged in a neat little form for a little while, then our perspective on it starts to change. Those grandiose promises that wealth and riches make, they start to be exposed as lies.And that leads us to our final set. We're going to see what truly is at stake here. This is where the true issue lies in two masters. Jesus finishes out with this in verse 24.> "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Matthew 6:24, ESV)If you work for Apple, then you sign a non compete, which means that you can at the same time also work for Microsoft, or if you work for Coca Cola, at least maybe high enough up in the ranks, you also would sign a non compete, which means at the same time you can't work at Pepsi. Basic understanding, they're in competition with each other as businesses. Jesus saying here that you can't live for God and also live for money. They're in competition, they're exclusive. You sign a non compete. This is what we mean when we talk about here being gospel centered. We don't talk about having our little Jesus stuff on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. And for the super spiritual 15 minutes in the morning, no, Jesus takes over it all.Now here's the bigger issue with what Jesus just said. Because Jesus just said that you and I, we are servants and we have one of two masters. Either the Lord is our master and we serve him, or money is our master and we serve it. I think our American skin crawls when we hear that we don't have a master. No one tells me what to do. Well, Jesus has a different take. It's not a question of whether or not you will serve. It's simply a question of whom will you serve. And outside of Jesus, you and I don't have have a choice. Outside of Jesus, you and I are enslaved to money. It owns us. Just ask yourself these types of questions here. Do a little thought exercise. Outside of Jesus. So think before your life was surrendered to him, or maybe even some. When your life was, what was your drive? What woke you up in the morning? Why'd you set the alarm? What orients your schedule? Why do you live in that location? Why did you study at that college? Why did you take that job position? You think on these types of questions, you might start to see a pattern. Well, I Set my alarm for that time because I have to wake up to be a work and I have to be to work because I have to make money. And I moved here to this area because, well, there was a job, it was pretty good job, pretty good money. Well, I moved, I moved here because, I work remote and I was living in a big city where cost of living was extreme. And I came here, Columbia, you know, it's kind of still up and coming, so it's kind of cheaper to live here, but still got good amenities, you know, that's why I live here. Well, I studied at that college, I took out some loans to go to that college because I was convinced that it would pay off and I'd be able to make some money. We're enslaved to owns us. It works us and it grinds us until we're just shells of people. And the worst part is that it tricks us. It makes promises. And what we thought was going to be our deliverance from the guilt within and from the suffering imposed on us, it turns out to be the very force that holds us in captivity.And if this morning that is what you feel like, you feel stuck under the compulsory rat race that we call the American dream, let me tell you that more isn't enough. It never satisfies. You can't have enough money in your bank account. You can't have a nice enough house, you can't drive a nice enough car, you can't have enough toys and trinkets to satisfy what is within you. It's a bottomless pit that just keeps on going. And if this morning you're prone to self righteousness, let me also tell you that you can't give enough to deal with that guilt within you. Because only Jesus is enough. Only at the cross of Christ is the guilt for sin actually paid for. Atonement is only found there. And when we close this morning, the news doesn't stop there. At the cross, Jesus rose from the grave. He rose in power and paved a way for you and I to live inside of new resurrection life. And this life, it's not theoretical. It's not just ideas that you and I talk about on a Sunday morning or on a Wednesday night when we get together. It's real power to live.Do you know that you've been set free by Jesus for money? It no longer owns you. It is no longer your master. Jesus is. So as a church, we're going to participate in storing up treasure in the eternal kingdom because we see this stuff for what it is, just temporary Dust and a neat little form that fades away. But there's a place where the treasure abounds eternal. And that as we give to that, our hearts are drawn into him and his work. And so as a church, we're going to be people that give our money away. We're going to give and we're going to give and we're going to give. We're going to give to things like this give project to international mission work. And our hearts going to be spurred and drawn on towards that king kingdom work. We're going to be people that use our homes as places of rest for the weary and the broken, not as places where we can put up walls to block out those types of people. We're going to be a church that lend out our cars to people who need transportation because we can be inconvenienced. It's just temporary. We're going to be people that give food to the hungry. We're going to give shelter and care to the orphan and the widow. And we're going to give more and we're going to give more and we're going to give more. And we're going to ask the question, how much treasure can I store up in that eternal kingdom? Because that's what matters. That's what's eternal. It's not temporary. It doesn't just come and fade. It's forever. And most importantly, because when we belong to Jesus, we belong to him. And money no longer is our master. It does not own us. We are set free from it. What a beautiful, wonderful truth that we could belong to him.Father, we thank you that in your generosity and your love for us you would set us free from what held us in captivity because we were being promised life in the path that leads to death. But we want the life that you offer. So would you remind us in your spirit of the resurrection power of Jesus? And would we be a church that participates in radical generosity? Because we are utterly and truly convinced that life is not found here. It's found in you. And we want to live and we want our hearts to be drawn towards you. Father, we love you and we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.One of the ways that we regularly remind ourselves of where true treasure lies and who the true master is is by participating in the Lord's Supper. This is a very practical and tangible reminder for us. We have real tables with real drink and bread up here and in the back and up in the balcony there's gluten free in the back right over here. And up in the balcony as well. But it's a real practice that you and I are about to stand up and walk and really grab some bread and eat it. And it's a reminder of who Jesus is and what he has done for us, that he went to the cross so that you and I could be set free from the bondage to something like money. And this is what Paul says about it in First Corinthians. He says,> "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." (1 Corinthians 11:23–26, ESV)So this morning, if you don't know Jesus, this practice isn't for you. Because we don't want you to be confused about who he is. We just want you to respond to Jesus, to respond in faith. This morning, though, if you belong to Jesus, this is a practice that we participate in, to remind ourselves of the cost of the generosity of our Father, that the Son would come and he would die on our behalf. And so take a moment wherever you are, and consider where is your heart? Where is the focus? And then confess. Confess that before the Father, but don't stop there. Come to the table and in coming, confess the work of Jesus that you and I have been set free from bondage and slavery to money. So when you're ready, come to the table and receive the most wonderful gift of his broken body and his poured out blood for you and I.

In this “Kim on a Whim,” Kim takes aim at Trump's floated idea of 50-year mortgages, calling it “a terrible idea” that traps buyers in decades of debt with little equity. She and Marc agree with Dave Ramsey's blistering takedown, arguing such loans solve nothing in the housing crunch. The pair dig into affordability challenges, California's rebuilding woes, and the danger of repeating pre-2008 lending mistakes. The segment wraps with talk of inflated home prices, younger buyers' unrealistic expectations, and a reminder that history has seen tough housing cycles before — and survived them.

Dave Ramsey shares the legendary origin of Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret and the timeless truth that you become what you think about. Through stories of the four-minute mile, millionaire research, and the power of intentionality, Ramsey challenges the “hope-stealers” and reminds listeners that belief, discipline, and consistent action — not luck or inheritance — create lasting wealth.JOIN QOD CLUB. Ready to stop growing alone? Join QOD Club and connect with people who actually get you. Get weekly Monday Mentorship Calls, Wednesday Book Club discussions, and brand-new business, mindset, and social media trainings coming soon. Start your 30-day trial for only $9!GET MY TOP 28 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: Click here to get your free copy of “28 Books That Will Rewire Your Mindset for Success and Self-Mastery” curated by yours truly!Source: How to Be Intentional With Your Money | Dave RamseyHosted by Sean CroxtonFollow me on InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the Anatomy of Change podcast, Seth Studley reconnects with Luke LeFevre, founder of Holy Work and (former Director at Dave Ramsey), to discuss the transformative power of journaling and personal growth. They explore Luke's journey from feeling emotionally numb to discovering purpose through writing, the importance of being still, and the role of fear and resistance in the process of change. Luke shares insights on how to embrace discomfort, take small actions, and cultivate patience in the journey of self-discovery. The conversation emphasizes the significance of building a supportive community and the gift of vulnerability in healing. Keywords journaling, personal growth, emotional health, transformation, coaching, self-discovery, fear, change, Holy Work, mental health Takeaways Journaling helps unlock emotions and find purpose. The journey to self-discovery often begins with discomfort. Patience is crucial in the process of transformation. Fear is a natural part of making significant changes. Small actions can lead to significant transformations. Being still allows for deeper connection with oneself and God. Free writing can help clarify thoughts and feelings. Overcoming resistance is essential for personal growth. The act of writing can provide clarity and reduce anxiety. Building a supportive community can enhance the journey of change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SummaryIn this conversation, Benjamin Lee discusses the challenges of managing debt, particularly in relation to credit cards and high interest rates. He references Dave Ramsey's teachings on financial responsibility and the implications of being in debt, emphasizing how it can hinder one's ability to invest or help others financially.TakeawaysDebt can feel overwhelming, especially with high interest rates.Dave Ramsey's teachings highlight the dangers of credit card debt.Being in debt can limit financial freedom and opportunities.Investing money wisely is crucial for financial health.Helping others financially becomes difficult when burdened by debt.Understanding the implications of lending is essential for financial literacy.Financial education can empower individuals to make better choices.Avoiding debt is a key principle in personal finance.Managing money effectively requires discipline and planning.The cycle of debt can trap individuals, making it hard to escape.Chapters00:00 Understanding Debt and Its Implications00:34 The Dangers of Co-signing and Financial RelationshipsSubscribe to my Free Monthly Newsletter at https://www.benjaminlee.blog

As a property management business owner, you likely work with seasoned investors who are always looking for new ways to build and preserve their wealth and assets. In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, property management growth expert Jason Hull sits down with Alan Porter to discuss how to reveal the powerful financial strategies the wealthy and large financial institutions use and how you can apply them. You'll Learn [01:09] Alan's Inspiration for Uncovering Financial Secrets [08:38] Learning Financial Planning Strategies 90% of People Don't Know [12:25] How to Get Started on the Path to Tax-Free Retirement [15:43] Strategies For Property Managers and Their Clients Quotables "The one thing you can always trust is for everybody to look out for their own self-interest." "If your own self-interest is in alignment with their interests, then that's a win-win. Otherwise, someone's gonna lose." "If you don't have a plan, make one. But you've got to have a plan and improve on it all the time." Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Alan Porter (00:00) I teach people to think outside the box, conventional financial planning, and show them the strategies that the wealthy and banking institutions have been using for years. Now, I show people how to become their own bank. Jason Hull (00:10) All right, welcome everybody. I am Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. We have spoken to thousands of property management business owners, coached, consulted, cleaned up hundreds of businesses. Alan Porter (00:26) Thank Jason Hull (00:35) helping them add doors, improve pricing, increase profit, simplify operations. And we run the leading property management mastermind in the industry. At DoorGrow, we believe good property managers can change the world and that property management is the ultimate high trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. We are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry. eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. Now, let's get into the show. So my guest today is Alan Porter of Strategic Wealth Strategies. Welcome, Alan. Alan Porter (01:16) Well, thank you for having me on. Jason Hull (01:18) Yeah, glad to have you. And we're going to be talking about, he's going to be sharing how to reveal the powerful financial strategies, the wealthy use, how you can apply them to. Alan will be uncovering the IRS approved playbook for retiring completely tax free, explain the millionaire tax strategies business owners use to keep more of what they earn and break down Wall Street myths to show how to build lasting wealth without market volatility. So Alan. Again, welcome to the show and why don't we kick things off by give us a little bit of background on you. How did you get into entrepreneurism, into business and give us a little bit of backstory so we understand how this all came to be. Alan Porter (02:00) Well, I never thought I'd be doing this. I retired from the military back in 1993. I was a Blackhawk instructor pilot and I told everybody I had a safe landing for every takeoff and I dodged all the bullets and I had a great career. And I got enrolled in the real estate mortgage business after that up till about 2008. I've had some tragic things happen to my family. In 2009, live in Little, mean Fayetteville, North Carolina. My son lived in Little Rock, Arkansas with his wife, Lynn. She was 39 and they had two little girls that were seven and four. Jason Hull (02:19) in 2009. Alan Porter (02:28) Well, we went down there for Christmas in 2009, but my son had been 100 % disabled for three years and still not getting the disability. And January 5th changed my entire life. His wife, Lynn, called me up. said, Alan, I've been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and they've given me six months to live. Of course we were all devastated, but there's a huge financial problem that's developed in my son's family because there's no money coming in. Jason Hull (02:28) Well, we went down there for business in 2009, but my son had been 100 % disabled for three years and still not in a disability. Wow. And January 5th changed my entire life. His wife Lynn called me up, she said, Alan, I've been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and they've given me six months to live. Of course, we were all devastated. Yeah, I bet. there's huge financial problem that's developed in my son's family because of the money coming in. Alan Porter (02:55) I'm helping them out, but I don't know for how long Jason Hull (02:55) I'm helping him out, but I don't help him. Alan Porter (02:56) until I'm gonna have to sell my house or do something. But I was like 99 % of the people out there, Jason, that thought life insurance was a death product that you had to die to benefit from it. Well, little did I know she had a terminal illness right or her life insurance policy that she could access within one year of diagnosis of this deadly disease and was completely tax free, which I knew nothing about. It was hundreds of thousands of dollars. Jason Hull (02:58) Yeah. Really? Alan Porter (03:21) And if it had not been for that, my son would be bankrupt and it took a huge financial strain off of me. Jason Hull (03:25) Yeah. Well, long story short, died a year later, so I moved my son back here to Fayetteville, North Carolina. But about a year after that, my daughter's an oncology nurse, and her husband's a doctor at Woodbrook and Raleigh, North Carolina, and just gave birth to my third grandson. And she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and it was very bad. We didn't think she was going to live. Well, now in 2023, she's been 12 years cancer free, but she also was diagnosed with Graves' disease, thyroid eye condition. Alan Porter (03:26) Well, to a long story short, she died a year later. So I moved my son back here to Fayetteville, North Carolina. But about a year after that, my daughter, who's an oncology nurse and her husband's a doctor, they live up in Raleigh, North Carolina, had just given birth to my third grandson. And she was diagnosed with breast cancer and it was very bad. We didn't think she was going to live. Well, now in 2023, she'd been 12 years cancer free, but she also was diagnosed with Graves disease and thyroid eye condition. There's only one treatment for it. It's not a cure-all for anything, but Jason Hull (03:51) And there's only one treatment for it. It's not a cure-all. Alan Porter (03:55) it's a treatment. It's an infusion, eight infusions of this drug is called Tepezza I believe. The first one was like $32,000. The last one was almost a quarter of a million dollars. That was in May of 2023. On January of 2024, the thyroid eye condition came back. In February, she went to the doctor. The doctor said, Nicole, I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do until you go blind and then we can operate. I'm thinking, man, what a prognosis. Jason Hull (03:55) my Yeah. ⁓ Alan Porter (04:21) So we tried to get her a study at Duke. She didn't qualify for that because she had already taken the Tepezza But April did get her into the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. But basically there's nothing they can do for her. She was up there for about four days for testing and consultation. But basically, like I said, there's nothing they can do for her. They got a drug that may be 50 % effective. It's not improved by insurance. And believe it or not, it's even more expensive than the Tepezza is. And it's just, I mean, so. Jason Hull (04:39) Yeah. Yeah. Alan Porter (04:51) So both of my kids are living day to day in misery. And when I got started in this, knew, like I said, these things, because I was to have a very successful real estate mortgage business. And I said, these financial strategies that the insurance companies have, why don't people know about this? These are the greatest financial vehicles out there. People tell me, well, listen to Suzy Orman and Dave Ramsey, insurance is not a good investment. Well, first off, it's not an investment. Jason Hull (04:54) When I got started in this, knew, like I said, these things, because I was very successful in estate in my early years. I said, these financial strategies that the insurance companies have, why don't people know about this? These are the greatest financial vehicles out there. People tell me, listen, as soon as you arm it today, Ramsey, insurance is not a good investment. Well, first off, it's not an investment. Alan Porter (05:18) It's an asset class all of its own. There's no other financial product that can Jason Hull (05:19) It's an asset class all of itself. There's no other financial product that... Alan Porter (05:23) provide the protection, performance, and benefits of cash value life insurance when properly structured and fixed and fixed indexed annually. And I'll give you one big point. They eliminate or mitigate the risk in retirement that a stock portfolio only compounds. That's absolutely... Let me ask you this. Have you ever heard of sequence of returns risk? Jason Hull (05:23) could provide the protection, performance, and benefits of cash, money, or life insurance. Yeah. if you have one big point, they eliminate or mitigate the risk in retirement that a stock portfolio only compacts. That's absolutely, let me ask you this, have you ever heard of sequence of returns risk? Sequencing returns? Sequence of returns risk. No.   Alan Porter (05:46) Sequence of returns risk. Well, don't feel lonely because 99 % of the people I talk to, to include multi-millionaires that have fee-based advisors. And let's say that you're 65 years of age and you go to retire and you got a million dollars in your stock portfolio. They used to say a 4 % distribution rate was a safe distribution rate to last for 30 years, index for inflation at 3%. Well, my plans go to age 120. They don't cut off in 30 years. Jason Hull (05:50) Well, don't feel lonely because 99 % of the people I talk to include multi-millionaires that have fee-based advisors. let's say that you're 65 years of age and you go to retire. You have a million dollars in your stock portfolio. They used to say a 4 % distribution rate was a safe distribution rate to last for 30 years, index for inflation at 3%. Well, my plans go at age 120. They don't cut off in 30 years. But the problem with that 4 % distribution rate Alan Porter (06:15) But the problem is that 4 % distribution rate, that's Jason Hull (06:19) That's $40,000 a year. And that stock portfolio, that's not guaranteed. What if you have a 10 % loss the first year? now your million dollars goes down to $900,000 minus the $40,000 you took out minus the fees you paid on financial advisor whether you make money or not. And then the next two to three years, 2008 happens again, where you lost 38 to 52%. You never got the money in the fifth year. And when I tell people about this, they're financial advisors, Alan Porter (06:19) $40,000 a year. And that stock portfolio, that's not guaranteed. What if you have a 10 % loss the first year? So now your million dollars goes down to 900,000 minus the $40,000 you took out minus the fees you pay that financial advisor, whether you make money or not. And then the next two to three years, 2008 happens again, where you lost 38 to 52%. You're going to be out of money in the fifth year. And when I tell people about this and their financial advisors, Don't tell them, I mean, they're said, I said, why do you think that is? Jason Hull (06:45) don't tell them. I made letters, I said, why do you think that is? Alan Porter (06:48) It's because they make a fee whether you make money or not. The number one fear in retirement is running out of money before you run out of money. I can eliminate that. Jason Hull (06:49) Because they make a fee, well, if you make money or not. The number one fair return is 20,000 dollars. Yeah, compensation structures are incentive models. And so if their incentive is not to tell you, it's because they're getting paid to not tell you. Well, they're supposed to be fiduciary looking out for their best interest clients. I'm a certified financial financial advisor. Yeah, but regardless, the one thing you can always trust is for everybody to look out for their own self-interest. Oh, you're right there. Alan Porter (06:59) Yeah, exactly right. Well, they're supposed to be fiduciaries looking out for their best interest clients. I'm a certified financial fiduciary. you're right there. Jason Hull (07:18) So if your own self-interest is in alignment with their interests, then that's a win-win. Otherwise, someone's gonna lose. Yeah. It's always the clients. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, well, that's quite the story. how is everybody doing now? Alan Porter (07:26) Yep. And it's always the client. My son looks like he's 85 years old and my daughter's living day to day in pain. Jason Hull (07:43) Yeah, yeah. So you have this burden of trying to figure out how do I take care of them? How do I make sure that, you know, taking care of your kids and, you know, nothing's more stressful emotionally or more motivating for us as a parent than our own kids having it going through a tough time. Yeah. I remember my oldest daughter, she was born with a birth defect that there was a rotation in her gut and she was just always sick, throwing up, stuff like this. Well, she almost died. We didn't know this. got, went and got a scan. Everything was inflamed. They're like, we have to do emergency surgery immediately. And yeah, it was pretty scary as a parent. And they had to like pull her guts out, do surgery, put them back in. And she was a little kid, you know? Now she's my oldest. I mean, she's still my oldest, but now she works for me. and in DoorGrow which is great. But yeah, I remember those times. That's really scary. And I can imagine that's just really a big load on your shoulders. So did this kind of spark you creating the strategic wealth strategies then? Alan Porter (08:30) No. Absolutely, that's my passion for this. I'm very passionate about what I do. It's all about education because people don't know. Jason Hull (08:49) Explain the passion, like what gets you excited about this? Alan Porter (08:53) Well, educating people. That's what I did in the Army. I was an educator. I taught people how to fly. it's just like this, educating people. I teach people to think outside the box, conventional financial planning, and show them the strategies that the wealthy and banking institutions have been using for years. Now, I show people how to become their own bank. I've been doing this for a decade and a half. And why don't everybody doesn't do this? I don't know why. mean, you borrow money from yourself, you pay yourself back compound interest. Jason Hull (09:16) you Alan Porter (09:20) and not the financial institutions and you eliminate the effective interest cost that you pay on the money that you borrow. And people, are you aware of what effective interest cost is? Banks love it. I had a gentleman who wanted to do my debt free for life plan. And I said, well, how much debt do you have? He says, well, we bought a new house a couple of months ago, a couple of car payments, a loan and a credit card. I said, what's the interest rate on your mortgage? He said 2.75. Jason Hull (09:20) Yeah. And people, are you aware? No, what is that? Alan Porter (09:46) I said, what's your effective interest cost on that? He says, well, I don't know what you're talking about, Alan. I said, don't fill it, only most people don't. Fill out my form, we'll do a Zoom conference the following week. I said, you got $461,000 in debt. That's not your problem. The problem is the 49.76 effective interest cost, you're paying on that 2.75 % mortgage. His eyes got real big and he said, Alan, how is that possible? I said, it's not going to get down to the 2.75 until the last couple of months of the mortgage. Jason Hull (10:10) Yeah. ⁓ Alan Porter (10:14) You've got a credit card here that's over 90 % effective interest cost. And even though you've got great credits, your average effective interest cost is over 46%. So my next question to him was, what financial vehicle are you investing in, your 401k or anything else, that gives you a 46 % return on your money? Because 46 cents of every dollar that you pay out goes to compound interest for some financial institution, and that money's gone for you forever. Jason Hull (10:17) and ⁓ Alan Porter (10:38) He said, well, nothing. In fact, I lost 10 % of my 401k. Jason Hull (10:40) Yeah, that'd be hard to find that much. And then my last question was how long does it you to your debts off? I said with my cap three buck of money and a whole lot of insurance policy, 14.17 years past, saving $73,000. And in the 10th year it would be 52 years of bids, and there's over $149,000 in cap Alan Porter (10:43) And then my last question was, how long can it take you to pay your debts off the way you're doing it? I 20 some years. I said, with my tax-free bucket of money and a whole life insurance policy and our software, we're paying all your debts off 14.17 years faster, saving you $73,000 in interest. And in the 10th year, you'll be 52 years of age and there's over $139,000 in a tax-free bucket of money that you can use ⁓ to buy a new car, whatever, college education for your kids. Jason Hull (11:06) you can use uh buy a new car whatever college education for your kids at that point your debt benefits will be $400,000 in tax-free money from the federal bank but think about this you don't have to any more money in this by the time you're 65 there'll be over $400,000 in tax-free money that you can use to supplement your income that does not affect the taxation of social security or the tax and community care part which will be in the thousands per year Alan Porter (11:13) At that point, your debt benefits over $400,000 of tax-free money to protect your family. Think about this. You don't have to put any more money in this. By the time you're 65, there'll be over a quarter of a million dollars in a tax-free bucket of money that you can use to supplement your income that does not affect the taxation of Social Security or the means testing for Medicare Part B, which will be in the thousands per year. You're protected from lawsuits, liens, and judgments, and it eliminates or mitigates all the risk in retirement. This is absolutely great for real estate investors. Jason Hull (11:35) Yeah. Yeah ⁓ Alan Porter (11:42) Because once they build that money up in the cash value of their policy, they can take it, go buy a property, and pay themselves back. I do this all the time. I just bought two new cars in last two years. I pay myself back. I'm going to have tens of thousands of dollars more because I compounded interest for me instead of some financial institution. Jason Hull (12:03) So you said multiple times, like why aren't people doing this? Well maybe you could answer your own question, why aren't people doing this? Alan Porter (12:10) It's lack of education. It ought to be taught in high school, but it's not. I've got college professors with PhD degrees in accounting and finance. They have no idea what I'm talking about. They ask me to teach their classes. Jason Hull (12:20) Yeah, got it. So it was just a lack of education on this. Alan Porter (12:24) That's exactly what it is. Jason Hull (12:25) So, yeah, well, I mean, it sounds like something that everybody should be doing. So how does somebody get started with this or how do they become aware of this or what would you say are the first steps? Alan Porter (12:38) Well, give me a call. I don't charge for my consultation services. That's free. It's an education. I think everybody needs to know these things because it will change their financial future, not only for them, but for their family also and possibly generations to come. at 9-8-5. Jason Hull (12:52) So Alan, it sounds like you've kind of found a passion in this. You really enjoy helping people to be able to figure this out and do this. Alan Porter (13:00) Absolutely. Jason Hull (13:01) So yeah, I think that's noble. I think this is pretty awesome. So for those that are listening to this point, I'm going to read a quick word from our sponsor and then Alan, I'm going have you share your phone number so they can get in touch with you and we can keep talking about it. So this episode is sponsored by KRS Smart Books. So if you're a property manager, are you tired of getting tangled up in numbers? KRS Smart Books has your back. They specialize in property bookkeeping. for small to mid-sized managers who'd rather focus on, well, managing. With over 15 years of experience in real estate accounting, their pros in AppFolio, Yardi, and all the top property management software, trust them to make your monthly reports hassle-free so you can get back to what really matters running your business. Head over to krsbooks.com to book your free discovery call. All right, so Alan, what's the number that they should get? to get in touch with you or to reach you to find out about this. Alan Porter (13:59) You can call me at 910-551-1046, email me at strategicwealth, the number zero at gmail.com. And you can always go to my website, which is www.strategicwealthstrategies.com and you can book appointment there. And I've got a plethora of information on that website. Jason Hull (14:18) What? Great, thanks for sharing. So for those that are listening, some people might listen to this and go, well, that's nice, but Alan probably can only work with people that maybe have a million dollars or that are ultra wealthy or have lots of savings. People will listen to this and say, that's probably not for me. What would you say to that? Alan Porter (14:39) Well, quite frankly, bull I work with everybody. know, I'm for the military. Military people don't make a lot of money. Okay. And I work with them, but I work with regular, regular working people that I mean, I'll give you a perfect example. I asked people, said, why do you contribute to a 401k? They said, well, it's a tax deduction. I said, no, it's a tax compounder. And I thought you don't think tax is going to be higher when you retire. I got another thing coming for you. Jason Hull (14:43) Okay. Right. Alan Porter (15:07) But see, thing is people don't understand. 1 % of people out there don't even think there's a fee in a 401k. A 1 % fee over a 30-year period will reduce your income by one-third. The average fee in a 401k is 2.99%. Now that's by Forbes Magazine and the Laptimes. People have less than two-thirds of their money and then they get hit with taxes anywhere from 20 to over 55%. And they're not prepared for it. They're not prepared for long-term care, which costs right now between $50,000 to $200,000 a year. I can get money for that's tax free for pennies on the dollar. It's just a matter of education. Jason Hull (15:43) So for the property management business owners listening, a lot of them will have sometimes hundreds of clients that are investors and they're wanting to maximize their investments, how would this maybe benefit the property management business owners to be better educated on this and have a strategic partner like you? Alan Porter (16:03) Well, the thing is, you've to have a plan.   If you don't have a plan, make one. But you've got to have a plan and improve on it all the time. But it's just like, you know, building up your cash value and borrowing from yourself to buy a property and paying yourself back. That's an absolutely great thing for a real estate investor. And these property managers, I've got health and wellness programs. If you've got employees over 10 employees, understand this. The employer will save anywhere from $500 to $700 a year in FICA taxes. The employee and the employer have 1,100 drugs, prescription drugs, at zero copay. That's 20 to 30 % of healthcare costs. Jason Hull (16:37) Yeah Alan Porter (16:50) I mean, and they also have an accidental indemnity program and that's not for the employer, but they have a revolution health app. They've got the number one telehealth app according to JD Power and associates. It's a plethora of benefits. We have legal club, we have identity shield. It's just all at no net cost to employer and no net cost to the employee. It's the section 125 of the tax program. Jason Hull (17:06) This is all at no net cost reported at no net cost reported. Got it. Got it, interesting. Okay, well cool. Well what else would people generally ask about this or should we make sure that the listeners are aware of related to this? Well, are you... Alan Porter (17:26) Well, are you risk averse? Are you conservative? You know, it's just like when you go to retire and you've got that million dollars in stock portfolio, a 4 % distribution rate, $40,000. If you had a property constructed fixed indexed annuity at, say, age 65, you'd only need approximately $650,000 of that stock portfolio to give you the same $40,000 a year. That's guaranteed for the rest of your life. we're guaranteed. Jason Hull (17:53) New York Heat. ⁓ Alan Porter (17:53) Never to have a loss through the market because we're not tied to the market for our gain. We use indexing strategies and every time that indexing strategy goes up we have increasing income and the older you get the higher the distribution rate is. You can't do that with a stock portfolio. It's not even comparable. Jason Hull (17:59) And every time that index of strategy goes up, we have increasing income. And the older you get, the Yeah, yeah. Well, Alan, I appreciate you coming on to the DoorGrow show and bringing this to light for those listening that are not aware you're doing your purpose of educating. So appreciate that. And to wrap up what final words do you have? And then again, why don't you go and share how people can get in touch with you one more time. Alan Porter (18:31) Okay, well I've got a best-selling book out right now on Amazon. It's called Tax-Free Retirement Solution. Again, Tax-Free, Tax-Free Retirement Solution. Jason Hull (18:38) It's called tax, tax free. Retirement solution, okay. Got it. Alan Porter (18:45) And again, you can call me at 910-551-1046. My email is strategicwealth, the number zero at gmail.com. And you can go to my website, which has a plethora. I've got videos, I've got blogs, I've got everything there. And you can book an appointment there at www.strategicwealthstrategies.com. Jason Hull (18:51) email is strategicwealth0 at gmail.com and you can go to my website which has a cluster. I've got videos, I've got blogs. book an appointment there at www.strategicwellscladagy.com. Awesome. Alan, appreciate you being on the show and thanks for your service. You mentioned your former military. Yeah, I appreciate it. So for those watching, if you've ever felt stuck or stagnant in your property management business, you want to take it to the next level, reach out to us at doorgrow.com. Also be sure to join our free Facebook community, Just for Property Management Business Owners at doorgrowclub.com. Alan Porter (19:13) Well, I appreciate it. Jason Hull (19:31) And if you would like to get the best ideas in property management, join our free newsletter at doorgrow.com slash subscribe. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. We'd really appreciate it. And until next time, remember the slowest path to growth is to do it alone. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.  

You and Tom take on the myth of hard-and-fast financial rules by walking through Real Simple's list of nine “rules you can break.” From the latte factor to credit cards, budgeting, bulk shopping, and the old “retire at 65” trope, the conversation keeps coming back to a single theme: money isn't black and white. You push back against absolutists like Dave Ramsey, emphasize discipline over dogma, and highlight the practical realities of saving behavior, debt, lifestyle choices, and risk. Listener calls round it out — including a thoughtful inheritance question and a late-career investor worried about having “run out of time,” which you defuse with smart, flexible solutions. 0:04 Absolutism vs. nuance in personal finance 1:24 Dave Ramsey's black-and-white rules 1:57 The latte rule and small vs. big expenses 3:36 Pay-yourself-first as the only rule that really works 4:57 Are credit cards bad? Protection, perks, and pitfalls 6:26 Truth lives between extremes 7:45 “Breakable” money rules from Real Simple 8:39 The myth of retiring at 65 9:59 Why more people work past traditional retirement age 11:00 Don's TV story and accidental age-compliment 12:59 Is bulk shopping really a money saver? 13:55 Why strict budgets fail 15:04 Tom's failing FaceTime and tech-phobia 16:02 Caller: leaving money to grandkids who vanished 19:43 Family lawsuits when inheritances differ 20:23 Caller: asset location and bond placement 24:55 Should you draw from 401(k) or IRA first? 28:43 Caller: “Am I out of time to retire?” 33:00 Solving retirement shortfall with portfolio structure 36:16 Don runs the numbers — immediate annuity option Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bobby helps out Listener Angie who called in asking for career advice as she is job hunting and about to change careers. He gives her the good news and the bad news of the job she is applying for. He might even attempt to help her get the job. A listener needs advice from Amy on how to deal with being overwhelmed as a mom. Why Bobby is fearful of messaging someone on TikTok and the financial lesson he learned recently from Dave Ramsey. Amy updates us on how her son did in his race over the weekend. Bobby shared how it went for him playing the Opry on Friday night. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUNDOWN   Mitch solves last week's "mafia lookalike" mystery — listeners decide he's a dead ringer for The Sopranos' Michael Imperioli. The guys riff through Goodfellas lore, Seahawks' second straight blowout win, and Von Miller's hilarious regret about choosing Washington over Seattle ("it's like turning down a girl who became a movie star"). Heartfelt condolences to the family of Lenny Wilkens, celebrating the Hall of Famer's legacy as both player and coach — and his decades as the Pacific Northwest's ultimate basketball statesman. Then it's back to football as the guys revel in another stress-free Seahawks blowout, highlighted by two identical sack-fumble touchdowns from Tyrese Knight and DeMarcus Lawrence. Mitch welcomes back Brady Henderson and Jacson Bevens for another Seahawks No-Table after a 44-22 dismantling of the Cardinals. The crew marvels at a team that suddenly looks like a legitimate Super Bowl contender, while debating the sloppy second half and the emerging run-game breakthrough. They dig into injury updates on Ernest Jones, and Jarran Reed, the trade for Rashid Shaheed, and the defense's uncanny "next-man-up" magic under Mike Macdonald. Mitch reconnects with Rick Neuheisel, presented by Taco Time Northwest, to unpack a wild week in college football — starting with Washington's shocking collapse in Madison. Rick calls it a "disaster," offers perspective on Jed Fisch's road woes, and shares how leadership, not logistics, separates winners from whiners. From there, the conversation races across the national landscape: Penn State's heartbreak at Happy Valley, Texas Tech's oil-fueled rise, and which Group of Five team might crash the playoff. Then Neuheisel dives into Lincoln Riley's number-swap trickery — calling it "legal but unethical" — before handing out Taco Time honors. Mitch reconvenes the Seattle Kraken No-Table with RJ Eskanos and Dylan Travers of Emerald City Hockey for the team's first check-in of the season. Despite a solid early record and a near-top Pacific Division standing, the panel wonders how sustainable it really is. RJ notes that the offense remains among the league's weakest, while Dylan credits new head coach Lane Lambert for installing a defense-first system that maximizes effort and structure.   GUESTS   Brady Henderson | Seahawks Insider, ESPN Jacson Bevens | Writer, Cigar Thoughts Rick Neuheisel | CBS College Football Analyst, Former Head Coach & Rose Bowl Champion RJ Eskanos | Co-Founder, Emerald City Hockey Dylan Travers | Analyst, Emerald City Hockey   TABLE OF CONTENTS   0:00 | From Mafia Mitch to Cher in Fresno — Episode 357 Starts with a Bang 14:40 | BEAT THE BOYS - Register at MitchUnfiltered.com 19:20 | From Lenny's Legacy to Mr. Playoffs: Seahawks Roll to 7–2 and Dream of the NFC's Top Seed 35:17 | GUEST: Seahawks No-Table; Déjà Vu Defense: Two Scoop-and-Scores, a Surging Run Game, and Seattle's NFC Statement Win 57:53 | GUEST: Rick Neuheisel; Disaster in Madison, Trickery in L.A., and Oil-Money Football: Rick Neuheisel Dares to Dip 1:29:42 | GUEST: Kraken No-Table; Effort, Defense, and a Little Luck: Can the Kraken Keep Floating Above the Ice? 1:49:57 | Other Stuff Segment: Sydney Sweeney's boyfriend "Scooter", Mariners free agency (Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suárez, Mitch Garver, bullpen decisions), debate on re-signing Suárez vs. internal options, Matt Kalil divorce/CamSoda "offer" saga, USC's Sam Huard fake-punt jersey trick, Mark Sanchez fired by FOX & replaced by Drew Brees, Erik Spoelstra house fire note, Antonio Brown arrest & attempted murder charges, Indiana volleyball assistant coach gambling infractions, Guardians pitchers betting scandal & "is everything rigged?" angst RIPs: Mia Hammond (21-year-old Washington women's soccer goalkeeper), Paul Tagliabue (former NFL commissioner), Marshawn Kneeland (Cowboys DE, 24), Victor Conte (BALCO figure), Dick Cheney (former U.S. Vice President), Diane Ladd (Oscar-nominated actress) HEADLINES: Donald Trump "deny visas to fat people" bit, Dave Ramsey's "15–20 houses for God" rant, Kim Kardashian underwear with built-in pubic hair, Matt Kalil "two Coke cans" closer gag

✍️ ⁠Help us make the show better! Take this 6-question survey.⁠ Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze answer your questions and discuss: "I've been fired 14 times and no employer will look at me now. What are my options to get out of this cycle?" "I was living with my girlfriend and her family, we broke up and now I have to move out and I don't know what to do" "Should I use my bonus to gain equity in the small business I work for?" "I bought an Airbnb cabin and now I am behind on my bills" "My dad offered to cashflow my first home. How do I structure this the right way?" Next Steps:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Dave Ramsey breaks down his no-nonsense system for mastering daily time management — what he calls “A1 Steak Sauce” planning. He explains how to rank your priorities by urgency and importance so you can stop reacting to distractions and start making measurable progress every day. Learn how to focus on what truly matters, eliminate wasted effort, and build the discipline to always go “back to the list.”GET MY TOP 28 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: Click here to get your free copy of “28 Books That Will Rewire Your Mindset for Success and Self-Mastery” curated by yours truly!Source: These 45 Minutes Will Give You Hours Back in Your DayHosted by Sean CroxtonFollow me on InstagramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.