Millennials saw their parents work for 40 straight years, and many are considering taking some time off from work, aka taking sabbaticals. Again, Lauren and her guest discuss the book Die with Zero. Sabbaticals allow you to travel, catch up on life tasks, re-evaluate life choices, and alleviate burnout. They’re usually 3 months to 1 year long. A mini retirement, on the other hand, can last years, and you may be making some income during that time, perhaps by doing contract work. At the end of the day, money is a tool, and it doesn’t make sense to accumulate for the sake of accumulation. You’re ..read more

More people are choosing to be child free. Is there a difference between being childless and child free? Lauren thinks so, but it’s a gray area. When coming to Bri for financial planning, her clients are not telling them why they’ve chosen not to have children. Presumably, there are financial implications. Lauren asks if there is a moral obligation to have children. They also touch on whether it’s selfish to have or not have kids, and there are arguments on both sides. Whatever the case, once you choose not to have kids, this opens up a lot of flexibility because you’re not usually as worried ..read more

About this week’s interviewer (not guest!), Clint Murphy: Clint Murphy runs both The Growth Guide podcast and newsletter: become better, achieve more, and reach financial freedom. During the day, he and his partners run a real estate development firm, which they’re working on scaling. Clint’s vision is to become more passive over time, while spending half his time in Vancouver and half abroad. If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episodes 71 and 72, where Lauren was interviewed by Chris of Heavy Metal Money. Also, check out, episode 134, when Lauren interviewed Clint for his 100th episo ..read more

Ruchi starts by sharing a story about how she thought a Prada purse would make her happy when she was on Wall Street. We are searching for external validation, but it really comes down to the work we do internally. Ruchi shares about the success and corporate ladder climbing she did early on, and how hollow it really felt. After hiring a coach, she found her calling as a “financial therapist.” It was learning about the 3 pillars that changed everything for Ruchi: well-being, spirituality, and relationships. Well-being means asking the question, what brings you joy? Budget time and money for th ..read more

A budget is your plan on how you’re going to manage the money inflows and outflows of your household. Who budgets? Basically nobody. A lot of how we use money today is practically frictionless, and budgeting requires examining how you’re spending differently than you naturally do on a day-to-day basis. Everyone should budget by using a process that works for how they think. John encourages his financial advising clients to examine their past spending to make sure their gut feelings about line items, like Amazon or Uber Eats spending, are correct. John then verbally walks through the One Number ..read more

NOTE: This episode fell through the cracks in Sep 2024 *sorry about that* but you're getting it now! Interestingly, Kris’s journey started with him wanting to be a surgeon. But he ended up becoming a teacher and becoming bored with the repetitive nature. Wanting a challenge and more money, he became a consultant and went to business school. Kris’s real estate investing journey began while he was still working full time. Lauren shares some personal stories she hasn’t shared before related to Kris’s journey. They talk about how each step in your career you’re learning skills and stacking them t ..read more

It's that time of year. Time to look back on Adulting Is Easy's FIFTH full year of podcasting. About the listeners: 80% from the US (81% last year) Others: Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa, China, Cambodia, Germany, Spain, Philippines, Mexico, Netherlands, India, UAE, Sudan, Switzerland, Japan, Ireland, Ghana, Denmark, Israel, Belgium, Finland, Romania, Italy, Sweden, France, Pakistan, Argentina, Singapore, Nigeria, Peru, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Greece, Brasil, Oman, Bolivia, Czech Republic, Poland, Namibia, Norway, Russia, Austria, Turkey, Slovakia, Egypt, Portugal, Croatia, South Korea, Chil ..read more

Brian and Lauren discuss college degrees, and whetherthey’re valuable or not, given Brian isn’t happy with his degrees. Spoiler, there’s inherent value in getting a degree. Lauren asks Brian to dive into what it was like to be in real estate during the bubble and leading up to the 2008 real estate crash. While he lost his job with a hard money lender, he was able to get another job in the real estate space, and that led to his current company, Spark Rental. Soon, the conversation transitions to lifestyle design. Brian and his family have lived outside of the country for years, starting in the ..read more

Which is the better investment – real estate or bitcoin? Is bitcoin even an investment? Or is it currency? A commodity? Lauren challenges her friend Rajat about bitcoin and he challenges her about real estate. The result is a rich debate about two different investment options that have minted millionaires. Naturally, real estate (and the stock market) have been around quite a bit longer and thus have a bigger track record to fall back on. Lauren educates Rajat about real estate, and he educates her about bitcoin. Let us know which you think is better when you’re done listening! Connect with R ..read more

Brett opens up by defining what credit cards are, then he gets into the pros and cons of credit cards. The main pros are travel insurance, consumer protection, and rewards. The main con is the high interest rate and propensity for people to spend money they don’t have, the “poison” of personal finance, if you will. Both Brett and Lauren are using 0% credit cards right now to carry balances, but they arenusing these responsibly and will pay them off before the interest hits. Credit cards are like fireworks. If you play with them responsibly, you’ll get a beautiful show. If not, they’ll blow up ..read more