May 2017 – Marriage, Kids and Money

Crowdfund Your Way into a Hollywood Movie – with David Willis and Katherine Botts

When I was in high school, I was really into movies. I loved watching them in the theaters. A wall in my room was filled with a collection of my favorite flicks on VHS. I even made my own murder mystery movie (I pretty much ripped off Scream).

All of those memories came flooding back to me last week when I interviewed a couple of real Hollywood movie producers. These are actual professionals that are making movies and putting them up on the big screen for the world to enjoy.

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3 Smart Reasons for New Investors to Choose Index Funds

When you’re in your 20’s and 30’s, planning for retirement doesn’t always end up at the top of your to-do list.

“Hmm… let’s see … check out the lineup for Lollapalooza or learn about my 401k investment options at work?”

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How to Crush $52,000 in Debt in 7 Months – with Chris Peach

It seems the more we earn, the more we spend. There is always something new to buy, a service we want or an upgrade that is an absolute must-have. We see our neighbor’s new boat. Now, something inside of us “needs” that new boat too! And even if our income isn’t enough to buy it, well that doesn’t stop most of us. We’ll just borrow, put it on credit and go into massive debt trying to maintain a lifestyle that we simply can’t afford.

What if you broke free from this rat race of life? What would your life be like if you started spending less than you earned? How about if you were able to completely eliminate debt from your life?

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How One Pay Raise Can Lead to Debt Freedom

My day had come. I had put in the extra effort and made a true impact on multiple important pieces of business I was working on. It was time for a pay raise.

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How to Travel the World for a Living – with Jonathan and Kach Howe

In my endless pursuit to chat with all the most interesting people in the world, I started studying up on travel bloggers. These folks spend their days traveling across the US or globetrotting around the world. They capture their adventures through writing, photography or video. Some of the more popular travel bloggers do this full-time and their vagabond lifestyle is fully funded.

After they’ve built a loyal audience on their blog and through social media, they’ll get hooked up with sponsors and affiliates (like hotels, resorts or automotive companies) who will financial support their travels. Some of them even write their own travel books based on their adventures. Can you imagine roaming the world, seeing all that our beautiful earth has to offer and having all of your travels be fully funded?!

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How Crushing Debt is Like Yard Work

This past Sunday, my wife Nicole and I attended our local church’s Financial Peace University class. I had the opportunity to teach this course in January for the first time and now we are supporting our friends who are leading it over the next 8 weeks. It’s so exciting to talk and work with couples who are committing themselves to getting rid of debt from their lives.

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Entrepreneurial Freedom Straight Out of College – with Brian Robben

I’ve interviewed a couple of early retirees lately on the Marriage, Kids and Money Podcast. Those episodes end up getting a solid amount of downloads. It’s probably because the notion of early retirement sounds so incredibly appealing to those of us grinding away at our 9-5 jobs. To wake up, design your day how you please and avoid rush hour traffic sounds like true freedom.

Well, what if you never had to retire from anything? What if you never started the rat race to begin with? What if you decided that your first job out of college was to work for yourself?

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10 Easy Ideas to Make Your Next Budget Session Fun

This month, I’m challenging the listeners of the Marriage, Kids and Money Podcast and the readers of this blog to live on a monthly budget. Let’s make this budget challenge fun!

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MKM Challenge: Budget Your Way to Wealth

It is the first Monday of the month my friends! That means, we’re throwing down another MKM Challenge. For you “personal challenge types” out there (like me), this can be a lot of fun and, if you stick to it, quite rewarding.

Last month, I challenged myself to develop a chore and reward system for my 5-year old daughter, Zoey. The goal was to help Zoey correlate hard work with reward. This way she knows if she really wants something in life that she has the power to make it happen.

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