Podcasts about money metagame

Ever considered taking a gap year right in the middle of your career? That's exactly what Becky and Noah did. We interviewed them before they went off on their 1 year road trip round the United States, and now they tell us how it went, their takeaways and plans for their future. You'll love their story. We also chat about... What surprised them about their trip Their advice to others who want to take a gap year Getting back into the workforce after a gap year Why they didn't try to start any new business ventures Why they chose California Enjoy this chat with Becky and Noah, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it! Show notes and links from today's episode Becky and Noah's blog: Money Metagame Becky and Noah on Instagram and Twitter ChooseFI episode with Naseema: How I Paid Off 1 Million in Debt Article: Hotel stats from a year on the road Episode: How to make $14,000 honeymoons cost $500, and taking a gap year with Noah from Money Metagame Key takeaways from our chat with Becky and Noah 1 - Their biggest takeaways from the trip Both Becky and Noah were surprised at how comfortable they were living out of their car. They were living lean, didn't have high expectations nor a specific outline of their trip, which gave them a ton of well deserved freedom. They spent much less than they thought they would and used hotel points and cashback to reduce the cost even further. 2 - Advice for those who plan on taking a gap year Noah explains that doing a gap year right in the middle of your career is the perfect timing. He says that if they had done it too early they wouldn't have had such a decent amount of cash saved up, and the compounding interest wouldn't have had as much of an effect. They also recommend to talk to your employer and make sure you feel comfortable you'll get a job when you get back from your gap year. 3 - The biggest benefits of taking a gap year This gap year was their year to chill. Becky was burnt out from her nursing job and needed some time to recharge, so this was the perfect opportunity to do so. This time off allowed them to relax and by the end of it they were actually looking forward to going back to work. By exploring all these cities in the US, they were also able to pick a location that fitted them best. The fact that they're changing jobs also means a bump in their salary, and they've also now decided to be more relaxed about reaching FI. Questions? Like or dislike? Leave us a comment! Want to support the podcast? Here are three things you can do. 1. Start tracking your net worth with Personal Capital using our link. It's free. 2. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and get one extra LIVE episode from us per week. 3. Join our Facebook group and connect with other members of the FI community.

Ever considered taking a gap year right in the middle of your career? That's exactly what Becky and Noah did. We interviewed them before they went off on their 1 year road trip round the United States, and now they tell us how it went, their takeaways and plans for their future. You'll love their story. We also chat about... What surprised them about their trip Their advice to others who want to take a gap year Getting back into the workforce after a gap year Why they didn't try to start any new business ventures Why they chose California Enjoy this chat with Becky and Noah, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it! Show notes and links from today's episode Becky and Noah's blog: Money Metagame Becky and Noah on Instagram and Twitter ChooseFI episode with Naseema: How I Paid Off 1 Million in Debt Article: Hotel stats from a year on the road Episode: How to make $14,000 honeymoons cost $500, and taking a gap year with Noah from Money Metagame Key takeaways from our chat with Becky and Noah 1 - Their biggest takeaways from the trip Both Becky and Noah were surprised at how comfortable they were living out of their car. They were living lean, didn't have high expectations nor a specific outline of their trip, which gave them a ton of well deserved freedom. They spent much less than they thought they would and used hotel points and cashback to reduce the cost even further. 2 - Advice for those who plan on taking a gap year Noah explains that doing a gap year right in the middle of your career is the perfect timing. He says that if they had done it too early they wouldn't have had such a decent amount of cash saved up, and the compounding interest wouldn't have had as much of an effect. They also recommend to talk to your employer and make sure you feel comfortable you'll get a job when you get back from your gap year. 3 - The biggest benefits of taking a gap year This gap year was their year to chill. Becky was burnt out from her nursing job and needed some time to recharge, so this was the perfect opportunity to do so. This time off allowed them to relax and by the end of it they were actually looking forward to going back to work. By exploring all these cities in the US, they were also able to pick a location that fitted them best. The fact that they're changing jobs also means a bump in their salary, and they've also now decided to be more relaxed about reaching FI. Questions? Like or dislike? Leave us a comment! Want to support the podcast? Here are three things you can do. 1. Start tracking your net worth with Personal Capital using our link. It's free. 2. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and get one extra LIVE episode from us per week. 3. Join our Facebook group and connect with other members of the FI community.

How to Get a Full Ride to College Noah and Becky worked as Caddies all throughout high school, making a good amount of money during the summer, but most importantly earned a full-ride scholarship (The Chick Evans Scholarship) to Purdue University (tuition and housing). This set them up to graduate college without debt. Because of the intentionality of both Noah and Becky and their parents they started their career at a zero net worth vs a negative six-figure net worth like most couples today. One too Many Promotions After graduating and finding the concept of FIRE, Noah and Becky saved diligently, because they wanted to be responsible with their money. Their saving and investing really found purpose when work became so stressful. Becky had risen up the rungs of the corporate ladder, and found herself feeling very stressed. This is when FIRE became a logical alternative. Build up enough cash reserves to walk away or take a Gap year, which they are doing at this point. The Gap Year FI After coming up with the plan to take some time off, Noah and Becky begin to take action toward realizing that goal. They liquidated everything in their house and began renting it. They got a storage unit to shelter some of those important keepsakes, and then they hit the road in their Mazda 3 Hatchback. Noah and Becky are traveling the country together, with a very modest amount of items, but most importantly they are having the adventure of their lives together, seeing these amazing sites all through the country, but also stopping to spend time with friends and family along the way. Funding the Gap Year Noah and Becky made the plan to fund this trip without drawing down on any investments. So in the months leading up to taking their gap year, they saved cash outside of retirement accounts, specifically to fund this trip. They racked up a ton of travel rewards, which has helped them supplement their trip. Back in Seattle Noah and Becky were spending somewhere around that $60,000/year threshold, now they are traveling the country full time, having the trip of a lifetime, and only spending $40,000/year! 75 Credit Cards to Free Travel Noah and Becky discovered travel hacking on Reddit. They quickly implemented the strategy, churning credit cards (opening new credit cards for the sole purpose of banking introductory signup offer). With each card having a $500-$1000 value introductory offer, they have earned approximately $50,000-$100,000 in travel credit to make travel more affordable and enjoyable. Anybody can repeat this strategy! You can get started with your first card today by applying through our travel rewards partner. What could you do with $50,000 for travel? We know this is an awful lot of money, but this strategy is not so difficult to implement. It's about making the intentional choice. What about your Credit Score? Most would assume that Noah and Becky would have taken huge hits to their credit score by applying for 70+ plus credit cards….. But the opposite has actually happened. Their credit scores continue to go up as they have more accounts, all having on-time payments. They have found their scores in the 800's now because of it. The Ultimate Redemption For their honeymoon, Noah and Becky traveled to Fiji and New Zealand. Spending about a week in New Zealand and 2 weeks in Fiji, having an absolutely amazing time, but only spent about $500 total for the trip. The actual retail value for the 3-week trip that they took, would have cost about $14,000, yet they managed to do it for only $500. This is the power of travel rewards! As incredible as this sounds we all can implement these strategies, simply by starting to take action today. Fitness and FIRE Noah and Becky are very interested in physical fitness, as money is not the most important thing on this journey, it is important to stay on top of health and fitness. Noah has competed in the World's Toughest Mudder,

Noah from Money Metagame returns to check in about how his gap year with his wife is going. We chat about how they are paying the bills, whether they could foresee themselves doing this long time, how they deal with meals and lodging, and more. We then check in with tips about visiting the Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns. Plus, another entry into our new segment, tell Joe where to go for his ten year anniversary!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to take a year off of work? Noah from Money Metagame and his wife are doing just that. Find out how saving for FIRE (Financial Independence Retiring Early) helped enable this, why they are doing this, how they plan on eating, where they plan on traveling, and overall, whether they are crazy or not! (Spoiler alert: Not).

040R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss our takeaways from Episode 40 with Noah and Becky from Money Metagame, plus voicemails from the ChooseFI community and our in-house expert Keith from the Wealthy Accountant. In Today’s Podcast we cover: Discussion of Episode 40 with Noah and Becky from Money Metagame about the Gap Year Jonathan took action and followed Geoff’s advice to start culling his closet and decluttering his life Jonathan is struggling with how to categorize and track his donations For tax purposes you definitely do want to track your noncash donations It’s always easier to track things along the way as opposed to doing it all at the end of the year How is Jonathan mentally approaching the process of decluttering his life? How Brad would approach cleaning out closets by making a game out of it Noah and Becky found FI at a young age and incredibly have not made any major financial mistakes in their lives You have more and more power in your life as you go along your FI path and reach your Milestones of FI. It isn’t an all or nothing thing. Becky realized she was getting burned out and was able to make a decision to leave her job based on a position of strength Becky and Noah have no fear moving forward and that is incredibly inspiring You don’t have to maximize every dollar but can focus on what brings you happiness How a ChooseFI app would add value to the community and an ask whether this would provide people value Announcement of the two finalists for the Startup Business Competition with Alan Donegan: Rachel and Tallis Discussion of the phrase ‘Side Hustle’ and how Brad hasn’t liked that phrase Voicemail from Alex with a question for Keith from the Wealth Accountant on retirement plans available to self-employed individuals Response voicemail from Keith from the Wealthy Accountant Life hack from Noah from Money Metagame on how to save on movie tickets Voicemail from Nicholas about the positive changes he’s made in his life in the last 5+ weeks since he found ChooseFI Discussion about the value you receive from cards on an ongoing basis Itunes review for the winner of the book drawing Links from the show: Money Metagame Sell My Comic Books website ESI Money Frugal Professor PopUp Business School The Wealthy Accountant Advance Screenings for movie tickets The Points Guy: How Closing a Credit Card Impacts Your FICO Score

040 | Today we have Noah and Becky from Money Metagame on the podcast to discuss their story, their upcoming 'Gap Year' of travel plus an incredible college hack they used to get full-tuition scholarships. In Today’s Podcast we cover: A discussion with Noah and Becky from Money Metagame Noah and Becky’s history behind their path to FI Travel Rewards was what initially got them into the world of Financial Independence How Noah introduced this idea to Becky originally Becky was originally hesitant but after seeing some stress in their lives became more open to it How the personal finance and financial independence sub-Reddits became Noah’s go-to sources for information The story behind the name Money Metagame How Noah and Becky both got full-tuition scholarships to Purdue University through the Evans Scholars program How they found out about this program to get these college scholarships The background on how others can benefit from this scholarship opportunity What was the thought process behind them buying a house in Seattle upon moving there? The mortgage on their house was actually less than what they were paying in rent What was the process behind them getting rid of PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) on their home? After they found the concept of FI they started maxing out their 401ks, HSAs and Roth-IRAs, plus regular brokerage accounts Their savings rate went from 6% in 2014 to 58% in 2015 after finding FI. It has since gone up from there Becky wasn’t happy in her job and that gave them the push to quit their jobs and take a ‘Gap Year’ to travel around the United States They are past “Half FI” on the list of FI Milestones What do they plan to do with their home in Seattle? What did the conversation look like when they told their family and friends? Could Becky dial back certain aspects of the nursing profession and only focus on the parts of the job she loves? Noah’s decision to leave his particular company and job What do they have to consider when embarking on a trip like this? There is room for FI optimization since they’ll have minimal income in 2018 How does the interplay work between realizing “income” through capital gains and getting subsidized health care What does their trip look like in general and what are their plans for the actual travel? They will be focusing on lower level redemption hotels through Hyatt, Starwood and IHG How will they get their mail while on the road? What scares them about this trip and experience? This was all possible because they found FI Information on their honeymoon to Fiji as their best travel rewards win Does it make sense to use miles for business class or first class? Hot Seat Question 

032R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss Episode 32 with Joel from FI 180 on the 'Milestones of FI', plus a life hack voicemail from Noah and Frugal Wins of the Week from our Facebook community. In Today’s Podcast we cover: The Friday Roundup after the Milestones of FI episode with Joel from FI 180 We’re having a FI get together in Richmond and hope to expand beyond Richmond The gamification aspect of personal finance and the milestones When your ‘financial freedom clock’ starts and discussion of where certain types of debt plays into the calculation Financial freedom clock equals positive net worth and all junk debt is paid off Milestone two is when you have a $100,000 net worth (when Personal Capital starts calling you for a personal consultation) The next milestone is ‘FU Money’ and there is discussion on where this fits into the continuum as the concept is nebulous Should there be a milestone before $100k net worth and FU money? Adding in ‘checkpoints’ along the way on the journey to FI in addition to milestones Milestone four is ‘Half FI’ which means you have 12.5x your annual expenses saved up Milestone five is ‘Lean FI’ which means you have enough to cover all your core expenses for life (not including your discretionary expenses) The discussion surrounding the math and psychology of paying off your mortgage or not paying it off The next milestone is the “crossover point” where your investments earned more than you did from working in a given month The many catchphrases of Brad and Jonathan Milestone 7 is Flex FI, followed by Financial Independence as Milestone 8 and Milestone 9 is Fat FI The power of the concept of Flex FI and how you have an 82% chance of succeeding even at this milestone The conversation surrounding where Brad is on the path to Financial Independence and where the side hustle factors into the calculation Our ask that the community helps us refine the milestones and checkpoints How Joel’s FI journey and drawdown strategies can be a case study going forward Voicemail from Noah from Money Metagame on hacks to save on utilities Take action and make the calls to compare prices on auto insurance, utilities, etc. Frugal win of the week from Michelle about unclaimed property Frugal win of the week from Vicki about Magical Iced Coffee Input from Don and Scott about buying cards and gift giving Focus on our discussion about gift giving from a prior episode and the Five Love Languages

029R | In today's Friday Roundup we discuss our key takeaways from Episode 29: The Reluctant Frugalist vs. the Aspiring Minimalist, plus feedback from the audience as well as two of our in-house experts. How Jonathan used travel rewards points to book two round-trip flights to South Africa to visit his wife’s family. Only 128,000 points! How to think through a travel rewards redemption and where to start The essential nature of the psychology when considering financial independence How to approach your spouse/significant other about FI and what to avoid – namely the word “retirement” What is Brad willing to spend significant money on? Email from Bo about a new term: A ‘Valuist’ and how this applies to Brad Feedback from our Facebook group from Christopher about a ‘false dichotomy’ Feedback from Jessica – there are no rules of being a minimalist, it’s a journey and a mindset Voicemail from Geoffrey about reducing stuff and choice with a cool challenge with your clothes How the KonMari method tidying has transformed lives How to have a conversation with friends and coworkers about FI when they know nothing about it The difficulties of talking about FI at work and how to navigate that Know your audience when discussing FI and figure out an approach that will resonate with people Update from in-house experts: Millionaire Educator released his 2017 Free Money tables Big Ern responds to Mark’s question on the pluses and minuses of ETFs and mutual funds and how to choose between the two New in-house expert: Noah from Money Metagame who will share life hacks Voicemail from Noah about how to save on purchases using discount gift cards as payment Voicemail from Marilyn challenging the ‘sacred cow’ of always buying used cars and how it can be a smarter decision to buy a less expensive new car that you plan to keep for a long time Can a car loan make sense if you have a lower interest rate? How to negotiate on purchases by mass emailing multiple competitors and Brad’s challenge to the audience Frugal wins of the week from our private Facebook group Book giveaway and iTunes review Links from the show: Decision Fatigue article at Wikipedia Headspace Mad Money Monster: Early Retirement Resistance - When Friends Push Back 1500 Days ESI Money Mr. Money Mustache Millionaire Educator’s 2017 Free Money! Tax tables Early Retirement Now Money Metagame Gift Card Wiki Books Mentioned in the Show: The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

026R | In today's podcast we discuss our takeaways from Episode 26 with Physician on FIRE plus some exciting developments in the Financial Independence world as well as feedback, questions and comments from the ChooseFI community. In Today’s Podcast we cover: The Friday Roundup after the Physician on FIRE interview from Episode 26 Information for the high income professionals and how it’s important to give details for that aspect of our audience Does the perfect answer exist for high income professionals pursuing FI? It might not be possible to defer enough money to get them out of that high marginal tax rate “A dollar saved is two dollars earned in the 50% tax bracket.” A brilliant quote from Physician on FIRE Everything comes down to living a frugal lifestyle “Doesn’t your spouse deserve a really great lifestyle?” asked the White Coat Investor. “Well yes, and she’ll have one, but she deserves my time.” Responds PoF. The fundamental flaw in the ‘retirement calculators’ that are published online for “normal people.” Your current income is not relevant when considering your retirement number. It is all about your expenses. For new physicians, you need to avoid the blowup in spending on cars and expensive homes when you get that first big paycheck You need to keep your fixed expenses down to a manageable level and you can splurge at the margins on other things Don’t fall into peer pressure to live an expensive lifestyle. Maybe move to a smaller town and practice geographic arbitrage in the US Brad’s own geographic arbitrage in his life moving from Long Island to Richmond, VA Optimized charitable giving with a ‘donor advised fund’ Discussion of the ‘backdoor Roth’ that Physician on Fire mentioned on the episode and the applicability for high income earners A new Camp Mustache event was announced for January 2018 and the tickets are available The ChooseFI private Facebook group is running and extremely vibrant and we’d love for you to join us Scott Rieckens contacted us about a documentary on the FI community that he is embarking on The FI community is on the verge of a breakthrough in the US Brad’s mom is listening to the podcast and had a frugal win of the week Feedback from PastorFI: College hack for student housing Discussing the call from Mark from Student Loan Freedom from Episode 25R about permanent life insurance Feedback from about Ken’s prior call about the ESPP from Olaf. He clarified the tax treatment on the purchase through the Employee Stock Purchase Plan Don’t let paying taxes get in the way of making a smart financial decision Noah from Money Metagame’s call about how to remove escrow to potentially save hundreds of dollars per year Part 5 of the case study with Paul including Paul’s feedback on his daughter’s college plans plus Paul’s summary of the case study Frugal Wins of the Week from the ChooseFI Community Itunes Reviews of the Week and Book Winners Links from the show: Physician on Fire Frugalwoods article on Donor Advised Funds Camp Mustache tickets Join our private Facebook group Scott Rieckens website Mr. Money Mustache on the Tim Ferriss podcast Student Loan Freedom KeepThrifty.com Money Metagame Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia ToDoIst Early Retirement Now Google Docs from Big Ern at Early Retirement Now: Google Doc master file for Safe Withdrawal Rates Big Ern's explanation on how to use this file Doc with Paul's case study numbers with Social Security Doc with Paul's case study numbers without Social Security Fiery Millennials

Ever wonder what FIRE stands for? Or consider how travel hacking may (or may NOT) be contributing to your overall wealth and financial independence? Join Free-quent Flyer and Money Metagame for this special episode dedicated to taking a look at the intersection of early retirement and travel hacking. Recorded 10 May, 2017.

Noah from Money Metagame stops by to settle an old argument with Trevor. In the process, we touch on how to evaluate the value of our trips, opportunity costs, whether travel hackers are actually "winning", and a little bit about F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early). Recorded 20 Oct, 2016.