The Stacking Benjamins Show

No Retirement Savings at 40? Here's Exactly What to Do First (SB1827)

Most people don't start thinking seriously about retirement until their forties. If that's you, the good news is you're not behind. You're normal. And this week three CFPs, Jackie Cummings Koski, Roger Whitney, and OG break down exactly what to do, in what order, starting right now. In this episode: Why panic is the enemy of a good retirement plan, the first place your money should go before anything else, why your savings rate matters more than finding the perfect investment, and the one investing mistake people make when they feel behind. Biggest takeaways: Give yourself grace first. This stuff isn't taught in school. The two years Jackie spent just processing her situation before taking action weren't wasted. That clarity is what made everything else stick. Increase your savings rate by 1% every six months. Going from 3% to 13% over five years feels like a non-event the entire time. Automation makes it invisible. Simple beats clever. Index funds, low cost, diversified, and boring. When you feel behind, the temptation is to swing for the fences. That's exactly when boring saves you. Real estate and dividend strategies are tactics. Tactics come after you have a strategy. For a 40-year-old starting from zero, the strategy is build the habit and save more. Resources mentioned: Jackie Cummings Koski's book Fire for Dummies and podcast Catching Up to FI at catchinguptofi.com [https://catchinguptofi.com] Roger Whitney's Retirement Answer Man podcast at rogerwhitney.com [https://rogerwhitney.com] The Stacking Benjamins scorecard: stackingbenjamins.com/scorecard [https://stackingbenjamins.com/scorecard] The Vault: stackingbenjamins.com/vault [https://stackingbenjamins.com/vault] FULL SHOW NOTES: https://stackingbenjamins.com/how-to-start-saving-for-retirement-at-40-1827 [https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/how-to-start-saving-for-retirement-at-40-1827] Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201 [https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Why You Should Stop Saving for Retirement 3 Years Early (SB1826)

Retirement expert Jamie Hopkins has spent 20 years helping people plan for retirement, and his most counterintuitive advice stops most savers cold: in the final years before you retire, putting more money away might actually be hurting you. This week he joins Joe and OG to explain why, and what to do instead. In this episode: Why financially prepared retirees still end up miserable, how to practice spending before you retire, the home bias that quietly tanks your portfolio and your quality of life at the same time, and what to actually do with all that home equity when the time comes. Biggest takeaways: The last three to five years of extra contributions barely move the needle on your retirement portfolio. Working six months longer matters more. So does learning to spend. Take that money and actually use it, so you're not hitting retirement having never practiced. Retirement isn't a math problem, it's an identity problem. The people who struggle most aren't broke. They never figured out where their purpose and community would come from once work disappeared. Over half of Americans are forced into retirement earlier than expected. You need a plan for that scenario now, not when it happens. Resources mentioned: Jamie Hopkins' Retirement Sketchbook wherever books are sold The Stacking Benjamins scorecard: stackingbenjamins.com/scorecard The Vault: stackingbenjamins.com/vault Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

You Don't Need a Huge Income to Build Real Wealth SB1825

A Kiplinger study of 1,000+ everyday millionaires found four traits that kept showing up. None of them involve a big salary, a hot stock tip, or a lucky break. This week Len Penzo, OG, and Joe dig into what those habits actually look like in practice, how to train yourself to spend with intention, and how to find a financial advisor who does what you actually need. In this episode: The "Midwest millionaire" traits anyone can adopt, why becoming a great saver can make you a terrible spender, the monthly money habit that takes 20 minutes and changes everything, and exactly what to say when you're interviewing financial advisors. Biggest takeaways: Frugality without intention is just suffering. The millionaires in this study were the last to spend on themselves and the first to give generously to others. Not cheap. Intentional. Set a money goal big enough to compete with impulse spending. Once you have a real why, "I deserve this" stops winning. When looking for a financial advisor, lead with exactly what you want in the first five minutes. A real professional will tell you if it's not their specialty. Resources mentioned: Len Penzo's blog and book True Money Stories at lenpenso.com The Stacking Benjamins scorecard: stackingbenjamins.com/scorecard The Vault (budget and net worth tracker): stackingbenjamins.com/vault FULL SHOW NOTES: https://stackingbenjamins.com/how-to-live-like-a-midwestern-millionaire-1825 [https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/how-to-live-like-a-midwestern-millionaire-1825] Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 [https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201] Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Building Your Personal Finance Curriculum (At Any Age) SB1824

Most of us were never taught this stuff. So, where do you actually start? Thirty-nine states now require a personal finance course to graduate from high school. That's real progress — and it still might not be enough. Because financial education isn't a one-time event. It's a living curriculum that has to grow with you, stay connected to your actual life, and — crucially — help you get out of your own way when things get emotionally charged. This week, Joe and the crew build that curriculum from the ground up. Whether you're 22 or 52, there's a starting point here for you. Rubin Miller — Financial advisor, founder of Peltoma Capital, and author of the Fortunes and Frictions blog. Came from the investment world before financial planning, which means he sees the whole game differently and isn't afraid to say so on LinkedIn. Paula Pant — Afford Anything host, behavioral finance truth-teller, and the person who goes on record this week with a very confident guess about the trivia answer. OG — The basement's own financial planner, father of a teenager who wants to day trade, and enthusiastic opponent of giving the government any money he doesn't absolutely have to. On building the foundation: * Why the first step in any financial plan is an honest accounting of where everything actually stands: income, spending, assets, debt, all of it * What's coming up in the next three to five years and why that question matters more than any abstract retirement calculation * Why teaching a 17-year-old about mortgages probably doesn't stick and what actually does * The one thing traditional savings accounts do really well (hint: it's great for banks, not for you) * Why your behavior matters more than your math and what to do about it On protecting what you're building: * The insurance mistake most people make: spending too much protecting low-probability events and too little protecting high-probability ones * Why disability insurance is more expensive than life insurance and what that price difference is actually telling you * When improving your credit score should not be your priority (this one surprises people) * Why debt is never really "good," just occasionally less bad On growing your money: * What an investment philosophy actually is and why you need one before you pick a single fund * The behavioral biases — recency bias, loss aversion, the availability heuristic — that make smart people do dumb things with their portfolios * Why nobody ever thinks they're panicking. They just think the circumstances changed. * Why taxes are a year-round event, not a February problem The financial media teaches you to chase. New strategy, hot sector, better fund. But the research keeps landing in the same place: most investors' biggest obstacle isn't information. It's themselves. The curriculum that actually helps isn't the one that covers the most ground. It's the one that connects to your real life, your real timeline, and the emotional triggers that quietly blow up even the best-laid plans. Start there. Everything else builds on top. Rubin joins the crew for the first time and immediately plays trivia on Jesse Cramer's behalf — which feels both generous and karmic, given that Jesse and his wife Kelly just welcomed a new baby into the world (on Jesse's birthday, no less). Doug brings the Eddie Murphy birthday trivia energy. Paula goes on record with a very confident guess. OG applies his usual ironclad logic to arrive at his number. Someone wins. Someone absolutely should not have said what they said out loud before the answer was revealed. MENTIONED / RESOURCES * Rubin Miller's blog: fortunesandfrictions.com * Peltoma Capital: palomacapital.com * Rubin on LinkedIn: search Rubin Miller * Paula Pant: Afford Anything podcast, wherever you listen * OG's calendar: stackingbenjamins.com/OG * Wall Street Journal piece on personal finance requirements by state New to the basement? Subscribe so you never miss an episode — and if this one made you want to finally build your own financial curriculum, that's the whole point. FULL SHOW NOTES: https://stackingbenjamins.com/looking-at-your-money-report-card-1824 [https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/looking-at-your-money-report-card-1824] Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201 [https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201] Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

You Don't Need a Big Break to Become a Millionaire -- You Need a Better System (SB1823)

Bola Sokunbi didn't start with advantages. She started with a $54,000 salary she never negotiated, a rollover IRA mistake that cost her 40% of her savings, a tenant who stopped paying rent for eight months, and a first year of business that generated exactly $200. She's also built one of the most influential personal finance brands in the country and helped millions of people on the path to becoming millionaires. The gap between those two things isn't luck. It's four pillars -- and she walks through all of them today. What You'll Walk Away With * The four wealth-building pillars that work in any combination -- and why you only need one to start * Why negotiating your salary isn't about being aggressive -- and the simple strategy Bola used to close a gap between $54,000 and the $70,000+ her peers were already making for the same work * The rollover IRA mistake that cost Bola nearly 40% of her retirement savings in a single tax year -- and exactly how to avoid it * Why the investing pillar isn't just a 401k -- and the specific questions to ask yourself to know if you're actually maximizing it * The honest truth about real estate as a wealth-building vehicle -- including what Bola learned from eight months of unpaid rent and a judge who heard everything * How to get into real estate investing without ever becoming a landlord * The entrepreneurship timeline nobody posts on social media -- and the financial runway strategy that lets you build a business without blowing up your household finances * Why the four pillars aren't meant to be pursued one at a time -- and how stacking them together is where the real wealth acceleration happens * The one mindset shift that separates people who build wealth from people who keep waiting for the right moment * Why starting late is a story we tell ourselves -- and what the math actually says about investors who begin in their 40s or 50s Why This Matters Now If you're in your 40s and you've been doing the right things -- contributing to the 401k, avoiding bad debt, building some savings -- but still feel like the millionaire milestone is someone else's story, this episode is the reframe you didn't know you needed. Wealth at this stage isn't about finding a better investment. It's about understanding which pillars you already have, which ones you're leaving on the table, and how to combine them in a way that fits your actual life. From the Basement Bola Sokunbi joins Joe and OG to walk through the four pillars of her new book, Clever Girl Millionaire -- and yes, the guys are allowed in today. Doug arrives with April Fools trivia involving the Tower of London and a very old prank about lion-washing that somehow still worked on Londoners in 1856. Joe and OG also spend the headline segment making what is either a very compelling case for strategic debt -- or the most elaborate April Fools bit in Stacking Benjamins history. The basement scoreboard had nothing to do with any of it. Resources Mentioned * Clever Girl Millionaire by Bola Sokunbi -- available wherever books are sold * Clever Girl Finance -- free courses, worksheets, and resources at clevergirlfinance.com * Clever Girl Finance on YouTube and Instagram -- @CleverGirlFinance * Grind by (coffee shop founder) -- referenced by Joe during the entrepreneurship discussion * Stacking Benjamins Scorecard -- assess your financial strategy at stackingbenjamins.com/scorecard * Stacking Benjamins Meetups -- find a local group at stackingbenjamins.com/bad * Live Show -- Stacking Benjamins and Afford Anything joint live recording, April 7th at Texas A&M Texarkana; details at stackingbenjamins.com/meetup FULL SHOW NOTES: https://stackingbenjamins.com/clever-girl-how-to-become-a-millionaire-1823 [https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/clever-girl-how-to-become-a-millionaire-1823] Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 [https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201] Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]