Couple Money Podcast

Build Your Marriage and Grow Your Net Worth

Mastering Your 401(k): Understanding Your Investment Options

Want to get the most out of your 401(k)? Learn the key guidelines on how you can choose the best investment options for you!  Making the Most of Your 401(k) Chances are if you’re investing for your retirement, the bulk of that money is stashed away in your 401(k). For those whose employers offer them, […]

Elle

Best Wedding Planning Tips to Make Your Special Day Less Stressful

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Even though it’s about 13 years ago, I remember being stressed at times when planning our wedding.

Just like we heard at the top of the show, as soon as you announce your engagement it can feel like you’re being swarmed with questions about the big day.

But as much as your loved ones mean well, it can be easy to forget how personal this is.

For some, it’s something they planned and dreamed for years while others are looking for a very laid back and casual affair.

It’s a celebration and a promise that you to make to each other in front of your loved ones depending on the wedding you have.

There can be plenty of moving parts which can be overwhelming and stressful.

The two of you need to sit down and start talking about which things you’d like to have and which things are must-haves

You also may have family members who want to help out.

You have venues, vendors, and maybe some out of town guests to make arrnagements for.

Oh and of course paying for it.

Which is why I’m happy Megan Gillikin is on the podcast today.

She’s the owner and lead consultant for A Southern Soiree Wedding and Event Planning so she has plenty of insider tips to help you have a fantastic wedding!

In this episode we get into:

  • Establishing your must-haves and wedding budget
  • What to do when the family wants to help pay for your wedding
  • Ice breakers to get the ball rolling

Hope you enjoy!

If you want to hear from another bride who had a beautiful wedding on a small budget, listen to my interview with Jessi Fearon.

She and her husband Pat managed a sweet and special wedding for $500!

Resources to Plan Your Wedding

If you’re getting married, please check out these resources so you can plan out your special day without going into debt.

Thank You to Our Sponsor Coastal!

Support for this podcast comes from Coastal Credit Union! If you’re living in the Raleigh Durham area and looking to bank better, come check out Coastal today.

They have competitive rates on checking and savings accounts!

Meet Megan Gillikin 

Megan is the owner and lead consultant for A Southern Soiree Wedding and Event Planning. I also do wedding and hospitality business consulting.

She’s also the host of the fantastic and informative podcast Weddings for Real.

Support the Podcast!

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast!

  • Spread the word! If you enjoyed this episode and think it can help a buddy get on the path to dumping debt and become financially free, please share.
  • Leave a review. Honest feedback and reviews make a big difference and gets the word out about the podcast. Leave your review on Apple or Stitcher.
  • Grab a copy of Jumpstart Your Marriage and Your Money. My book is designed for a busy couple to set up their finances in 4 weeks. Get tips and tools that have worked for other couples on their journey of building their marriage and wealth together!

Music Credit

Like the music in this episode? Our theme song is by Gentle Regime. Additional music by Lee Rosevere.

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What to Do If your Spouse Breaks the Budget (Again!)

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Need to talk about money, but worried about starting a fight? Learn easy and stress-less ways you two can have the money talk and get on the same page with your finances! 

How to Talk About Money (without Starting a Fight)

While it makes for good TV drama, finding out your spouse has been hiding massive debt is so not the way to start talking about money.

But how do you do that – how do you start talking about money?

Certified Financial Planner and NY Times best-selling author Carl Richards is on today to share some ways you can begin.

In this episode we get into:

  • Why it’s hard for most couples to talk about money
  • How money dates can keep things light and fun
  • Ice breakers to get the ball rolling

Hope you enjoy!

Resources to Help the Money Talk Go Easier

If you two are ready, here are some fantastic resources to make talking about (and managing) money much less stressful!

Thank You to Our Sponsor Coastal!

Support for this podcast comes from Coastal Credit Union! If you’re living in the Raleigh Durham area and looking to bank better, come check out Coastal.

They have competitive rates on checking and savings accounts!

Meet Carl Richards

Carl Richards is a Certified Financial Planner™ and creator of the Sketch Guy column, appearing weekly in the New York Times since 2010.

Through his simple sketches, Carl makes complex financial concepts easy to understand.

His sketches also serve as the foundation for his two books, The One-Page Financial Plan: A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money and The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money.

Learn more about Carl and connect at Behavior Gap or Real Financial Advisors.

Keep Takeaways for Talking About Money

Before we close up I want to focus on some key takeaways I got:

  • Make talking about money a normal part of your conversations.
  • Focus on the WHY before the HOW
  • Keep it simple

If you’d like to chat more about getting on the same page with your spouse about money, please join us in our private and free Facebook group – Thriving Families.

Hope to see you there!

Support the Podcast!

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast!

  • Spread the word! If you enjoyed this episode and think it can help a buddy get on the path to dumping debt and become financially free, please share.
  • Leave a review. Honest feedback and reviews make a big difference and gets the word out about the podcast. Leave your review on Apple or Stitcher.
  • Grab a copy of Jumpstart Your Marriage and Your Money. My book is designed for a busy couple to set up their finances in 4 weeks. Get tips and tools that have worked for other couples on their journey of building their marriage and wealth together!

Music Credit

Like the music in this episode? Our theme song is by Gentle Regime. Additional music by Lee Rosevere.

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How To Reset Your Money With a Financial Spring Cleaning

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Need to reset your money? Learn how to do some spring cleaning with your finances to start building momentum with your biggest goals!

For some reason, I like to use April is a sort of reminder to review our financial progress. Maybe because of the deadline for taxes.

Or maybe it’s because it’s financial literacy month.

Anyways, during April I’ll poke around all our accounts, including investments to make sure we’re moving in the right direction.

I’ll also review our goals for the year and see if we need to adjust anything.

If you’ve signed up for the community newsletter you got a look at a few of our goals for this year.

We’re looking to:

  • Make a dent on our mortgage with extra payments
  • Have enough saved up to replace a car
  • And for me, I’m working on getting in shape to tackle a 5k obstacle course

And if you haven’t, go ahead and take a little extra time checking your goals and numbers.

Things can be going smoothly, which is awesome.

But it’s not – like you’re behind on a goal or you two can’t seem to make any headway on something, this episode is for you.

We’re going to look at how you can reset things, do some financial spring cleaning, and build up some momentum.

In this episode we get into:

  • Why finances are a lot like fitness
  • Best resources to get on the same page as a couple and
  • How to start paying off debt faster, saving more, and creating your own path to financial freedom and independence

Hope you enjoy!

Resources to Stay on Top of Your Money

Want to learn more about getting a redo on your money? Here are some resources to check out:

Support the Podcast!

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast!

  • Spread the word! If you enjoyed this episode and think it can help a buddy get on the path to dumping debt and become financially free, please share.
  • Leave a review. Honest feedback and reviews make a big difference and gets the word out about the podcast. Leave your review on Apple or Stitcher.
  • Grab a copy of Jumpstart Your Marriage and Your Money. My book is designed for a busy couple to set up their finances in 4 weeks. Get tips and tools that have worked for other couples on their journey of building their marriage and wealth together!

Music Credit

Like the music in this episode? Our theme song is by Gentle Regime. Additional music by Lee Rosevere.

Play

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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

How Much House Can We (Really) Afford to Buy?

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Today we’re going to see how you can prepare your finances so you can buy a house without going broke!

Things are about to get hectic around here.

We just heard from our neighbor that the developer is going to start building the townhouses across the street from us starting next week.

Buying a House – Always a Smart Move?

Here in Raleigh if there’s a sliver of land, they’ll develop it.

It’s a hot market right now and homes are going up at a rapid pace.

Our property value has been rising since we bought our house three years ago.

We’ve received mail from realtors and have seen upticks with estimates from real estate sites like Realto, Zillow, and Redfin.

Our property value has been rising these last few years.

Here’s a summary from Zillow:

We take these estimates with a grain of salt, but they are a reflection of the home value growing.

Seeing this growth you might think we’re firmly in the camp of every one needs to buy a house.

But we’re not.

And here’s the kicker – not every couple benefits from becoming a home owner.

In this episode we get into:

  • how to know if buying a home is right for you
  • real and total costs of home ownership
  • how to figure out how much you can afford so you can buy a house and still pursue financial independence

Hope you enjoy!

Resources on Buying a House

If you’re looking to buy, here are some resources to help you find an affordable place you love!

Support the Podcast!

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast!

  • Spread the word! If you enjoyed this episode and think it can help a buddy get on the path to dumping debt and become financially free, please share.
  • Leave a review. Honest feedback and reviews make a big difference and gets the word out about the podcast. Leave your review on Apple or Stitcher.
  • Grab a copy of Jumpstart Your Marriage and Your Money. My book is designed for a busy couple to set up their finances in 4 weeks. Get tips and tools that have worked for other couples on their journey of building their marriage and wealth together!

Music Credit

Like the music in this episode? Our theme song is by Gentle Regime. Additional music by Lee Rosevere.

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

Tips for Starting and Building a Sustainable Side Hustle

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Interested in knocking out your debt faster, saving for a big goal (like a house down payment) or pivoting your career path? Use these tips to not only start a business but grow a sustainable side hustle!

Launching a Side Hustle

Starting a business, work from home, side hustle – you don’t have to be online for 5 seconds before you see an ad, site, or read someone saying how easy it is to get started.

It’s kind of half-true.

I would say there are more low-cost ways to get started with making money on the side, but free? No.

Whether you’re working on the side through an app like Uber, Wag, or GrubHub, flipping furniture and other yard sale treasure for profit, or working strictly online, starting a business is probably the easiest part.

Running and growing one? That’s the work.

I know some of you are interested in knocking out your debt faster or you’re to save up for a big goal.

Maybe a buy a house or bump up your savings for your little one’s arrival and you’re thinking, could a side business be what I need?

Honestly, it could.

There is a flexibility that you have when you’re in charge.

But it’ no cakewalk.

So today I want to share my chat with Marc over at Vital Dollar about his journey from working in an office, starting a side hustle, to working from home full-time.

In this episode, we’ll discuss:

  • Why he made this transition from employee to an entrepreneur and when he knew he was ready
  • Tips to help you use that income to reach your goals faster
  • And if do become a full-time entrepreneur, how to live on an income that can fluctuate

Let’s get started!

Resources

Here are some fantastic resources to check out:

Support the Podcast!

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast!

  • Spread the word! If you enjoyed this episode and think it can help a buddy get on the path to dumping debt and become financially free, please share.
  • Leave a review. Honest feedback and reviews make a big difference and gets the word out about the podcast. Leave your review on Apple or Stitcher.
  • Grab a copy of Jumpstart Your Marriage and Your Money. My book is designed for a busy couple to set up their finances in 4 weeks. Get tips and tools that have worked for other couples on their journey of building their marriage and wealth together!

Music Credit

Like the music in this episode? Our theme song is by Gentle Regime. Additional music by Lee Rosevere.

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More