Lauren kicks the interview off asking about how Alex and his wife got into the wedding venue space. Their interest in the wedding space started when they were planning their own wedding over 5 years ago. It was important to them that they go away from the barn look that so many venues have now. They have both a groom and bridal suite. And they wanted it to be close to the airport. They do offer some additional amenities, like games, fire pit, water feature, and putting green. And they offer everything they feasibly can as part of their packages. So, they aren’t nickel and diming as much as com ..read more

Allie is so passionate about young professionals succeeding. She kicks off by telling us about how she started a PR firm and ended up hiring a lot of young professionals. Allie started teaching them things they didn’t learn in school, like how to request PTO or set a meeting, for example. Eventually, she built a company around this passion, teaching and training young people. Not long after that, Ascend acquired that company, Ampersand. Lauren asks more about the young folks she was hiring at the PR firm. Interestingly, when Allie was hiring, she didn’t care what college they went to or even i ..read more

Devine got tired of being tired. That’s when he decided to take the financial reigns and start preparing for an early retirement at 45 or 50 years old. His cousin encouraged him to get into computer engineering, which is a great career. But when he started out, although he was making good money, he had student loans, then he added auto loans, then some credit card debt as well. On the bright side, he was putting some money in his 401k right away. When he got married, she had some credit card debt as well. She was on board with changing mindsets and focusing on getting out of debt, but she didn ..read more

Lauren opens by asking Andrew why he started The Personal Finance Podcast. He started it in 2020 to share his passion with others. He loves hearing about people’s “lightbulb moments” when they unlock an ability to build wealth and therefore unlock some time freedom. Then, Lauren and Andrew transition to discussing ways to grow your income passively. There’s a spectrum of income from active to passive, and they two discuss items along that spectrum: dividend investing, stocks, bonds, REITs being the most passive and digital products being less passive, but still more passive than a job. Real es ..read more

Lauren opens by askingBrian how he came to the conclusion to change paths from the business path to the missionary one. He truly felt God was leading him in that direction. That was the best way for him to have a positive impact on the world. Then, they dive into how people can invest on low incomes. Don’t wait until you make more! And remember, wealthy people buy luxuries last. Then, they dive into the HACKER(RRR) method: Hack your lifestyle, for example, with house hacking; pay attention to your transportation too Allocation budgeting: 50% spend, 40% invested, 10% give away Cash is King inve ..read more

Lauren starts by asking why Vanessa dropped out of college. It turns out, she’d be considering it for a year, but she felt she wasn’t learning anything she couldn’t learn in the real world. Vanessa’s father had asked her to join his real estate business, and she’d finally made the decision to follow in his footsteps. Vanessa then shares her father’s story, who invested in real estate on the side while he was a police officer. Eventually, he took that side business full time. Vanessa shares more about what the GW companies do. They buy apartment buildings, renovate them, then refinance aka the ..read more

BOY DO WE HAVE A TREAT FOR YOU THIS WEEK! Lauren puts out 2 weekly podcasts, one of course being Adulting Is Easy. The second is called the House Money Podcast. Here's episode 26! House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan have a special guest, Chris Luger from Heavy Metal Money where they discuss blog 125, which is about the 3 essential skills every real estate investor should have. The 1st essential skill is being optimistic. Alan experiences people telling him they want to invest in real estate and what stops them is they worry about every disaster scenar ..read more

What makes Chris the self-proclaimed Gas Biz Guy? Chris shares his origin story. It turns out his family was “in the business.” The name comes from his uncle’s plate from his Corvette. Lauren wonders what “gas biz” really means, and Chris breaks down all of the businesses in that sphere, many of which he has personal experience in. In short, Chris was born an entrepreneur. Then, the 2 transition to discussing the personal finance reality of business owners. What follows is a gut-wrenching story about him being too broke to even file bankruptcy. His wife’s credit card was declined. His kids cou ..read more

Lauren and Cody kick off the interview by talking about what a CFP® is, and how someone becomes one. The curriculum covers a wide range of financial information. Cody describes financial planning as a bridge between your financial ecosystem and your family’s goals and values. Cody argues that financial planners get a bad rap because of some financial advisors trying to take over management of your investments and sell you insurance on top of it. Some people even call themselves financial planners who don’t do any financial planning. Lauren just has to ask about why he is so pro DIY investing ..read more

Lauren comes out of the gate hot, asking exactly how Lindsay accumulated her $100k of debt. Basically, when she started making money, Lindsay blew through it, and ended up with all of her income going towards payments. Most people think of personal finance through payments. Lindsay didn’t know what she should be doing. How did she eventually get on track? This is gut wrenching. Lindsay and her family were at the Route 91 shooting in Las Vegas, and she realized life is too short to spend your life doing things you don’t like, for example, working a job you dislike. Basically, it was the opposit ..read more