JW's Financial Coaching Podcast: Recent Episodes

Jon White

JW's Financial Coaching Podcast-A show devoted to answering your personal financial questions and covering current events in personal finance. Giving people a new perspective on their money!

Question I’ve pondered lately
Why do we look at our money on a “per month” basis?
What is the right question to ask instead
What long term thinking with money does to our actions
Quote of the lesson from Dick Bove

When it comes to our finances, a lot of us look at our finances on a “per month” basis. How much is the car payment per month? The student loan? The credit card? The monthly membership dues? Our house payment or rent?

Have you ever stepped back and ask why we do that? On today’s lesson we will discuss why that is and attempt to answer if asking ourselves “How much a month” is the right question to ask

It’ important to discuss this topic because most expenses and debt opti [...]

Wrapping up our series on employee benefits
How some employers are helping with adoption costs
What health and wellness benefits are and how they can help
Save on hotels, car rentals, office supplies, and phone service
Quote of the lesson from Henry David Thoreau

On today’s lesson we are wrapping up our series we’ve done on looking at employee benefits by focusing on some obscure benefits that not every company offers or that you even think about as a benefit.

Child care

Now when it comes to child care there are different federal, state, and local programs out there for child care. But we’re talking about today is child [...]

Elle Martinez joins Jon to discuss her book “Jumpstart Your Marriage & Your Money”
Why she is passionate about helping couples with their money
The importance of knowing your “Why” when it comes to money
How to have the hard conversations with your spouse
Quote of the lesson from Dave Ramsey

I have the privilege of welcoming guest Elle Martinez to the show to discuss her new book titled Jumpstart Your Marriage & Your Money.

I wanted to have Elle on the show because her podcast is great and I couldn’t wait to pick her mine on a topic that most of will face at some point in our life, if we haven’t done so already, [...]

Jumpstart Your Marriage & Your Money: A 4-Week Guide to Building Wealth Together

With college tuition prices skyrocketing, tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment programs are great ways to attract talent
What a tuition reimbursement can do for you
What a student loan repayment plan can do for you
Things to consider before doing either once
Quote of the lesson from Arthur Ashe

With the ongoing burden that student loan debt has become in our country employee tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment programs are a great way to either increase you education while paying nothing or a fraction of the cost, or reduce your current outstanding loan balance.

Today we continue our series we started last lesson looking at employee benefits that you are missing out on. While they might seem similar tui [...]

New series on looking at your employee benefits
What is an Employee Stock Purchase Plan
How I use mine as a way to earn some quick cash
What to consider before you participate in your companies plan
Quote of the lesson from Warren Buffett

One of the most overlooked areas when it comes to our finances, is the area of benefits supplied by our employer. The reason is it is overlooked is because they are usually discussed very briefly on the first day you start the job, and all the information is in a packet that you just put in the corner of your desk . . . never to be seen of again.

But depending on your employer the benefits package can be a big boost to your overall finances. Some of the things that could potentially [...]

In research for my upcoming book, been looking at statistics on credit card debt
Why credit card debt is not just an income or age issue
3 ways to avoid credit card debt
Why I don’t own a credit card
Quote of the lesson from Mark Cuban

In doing some research for my upcoming book, on how debt free people think, I’ve been doing a lot of research lately on debt statistics. Recently I did some research on credit card debt and the recent surveys and statistics coming out in regards to credit cards and their usage are quite startling.

Gallup found in 2014 that 71% of Americans own at least one credit card [1]
As of March 2016 38.1% of households that have a credit card have a bala [...]

Three signs that you are worshiping at the altar of money
Why the worship of money is not a physical worship
How we can worship money no matter what our financial situation is
Money just makes us more of what we already are
Quote of the lesson from Andrew Carnegie

On today’s lesson we go into the topic of money worshiping. Now more than likely you aren’t sitting in your home each night and physically worshiping money. But there are thoughts and actions we do with money that lead to an unhealthy relationship with our money.

Now the thing with worshiping money is that this isn’t thing that only the wealthy of filthy rich can do. You can still worship money if you are struggling financially. Now worshiping money wi [...]

Are bi-weekly mortgage programs worth it?
Why you don’t need to pay a fee to have your mortgage paid off sooner
Getting your spouses head out from the sand when it comes to money
Why it is important to focus on the why and less on the what
Quote of the lesson from Charles A. Jaffe

Today we answer a few more questions from that you had for the show. Like the last time we did this in lesson #136, I always appreciate answering your questions on the show.

Question #1 What are your thoughts on biweekly payments on mortgages? I thin [...]

What are some small things we can do to have a big impact on our finances
Why physical de-cluttering saves us money
How much of a refund are you receiving this year?
Are you diversified enough
Quote of the lesson from Charisse Ward

Personally, I don’t know about you, but spring cleaning is one of those things that I know I need to do every year and that I will be glad I did once it is over. But in the end I procrastinate doing it and usually don’t get around to doing it.

Truth be told we do similar things our finances. There are some small stuff that we know we should do each year, not major things. But in the end we don’t do them or push them off until when we [...]

Coach Greg Pare is back on the show
Why he is doing a 5 Day Money Challenge
Who will benefit from the program
The common money issues Greg sees when he is speaking and coaching
Quote of the lesson

Today’s lesson I want to welcome Coach Greg Pare back to the show. I wanted to have Greg on the show to discuss an event he is rolling out soon titled the 5 Day Money Challenge.

When Greg mentioned to me the 5 Day Money Challenge I knew I had to have him on to discuss what the challenge is actually and why he developed it.

The challenge starts on Monday April 3rd and encompasses notifications from email, Facebook Live, and the Private Facebook group.

In addition we also talk about [...]

Continuing our series on lessons learned from coaching clients
What happens when we attempt to do several things at once with our money
The power of focus with our money
Why I love the Baby Steps so much
Quote of the lesson from George Horrace Latimer

The Problem When it comes to the way we handle our money most of us are trying to manage it the best way we know how. I rarely run into someone who is just flying by the seat of their pants when it comes to how they handle money.

However a lot of us are trying really hard but feel stuck in our current situation. That leads to feelings of frustration, embarrassment, and shame that we can’t figure this whole mone [...]

Continuing our series on lessons learned from coaching
How are decisions impacts our future
Why it is hard to look forward in our instant gratification culture
What our options will look like if we make these decisions today
Quote of the lesson from Nathan W. Morris

Yes we’ve all heard how our decisions today impact our future. But in our instant gratification culture it’s hard to look ahead and make decisions for tomorrow while seemingly hurting our ability to enjoy life in the present.

But our decisions today do impact our available options for our future. Today’s lesson we are continuing with our podcast series on lessons learned in coaching by sharing where this is an [...]

Continuing our series on lessons learned from coaching
When to cut out retirement savings
What to do with the money instead
Why the key word is TEMPORARILY
Quote of the lesson from Mark Twain

Every time I suggest it to a client, I get a weird look from across the table or there is an awkward pause on the other end of the phone line.

Them-You want me to cut back on retirement?

Me-Yes I do

Them-But what about my age? The match? Compound Interest?

Me-Don’t worry it is only temporary and you’ll more than make up the lost interest gained, match, and c [...]

Continuing our series on lessons learned from coaching
Learning the impact of what debt does to our life
The normalization of debt in our culture
Actions to take the realize the impact of debt on our life
Quote of the lesson from Publilius Syrus

Part of the job of a coach or mentor is the ability to shed light on an area or issue that needs to be improved upon.

The Impact of Debt on our Lives One of the common areas I get to shed light on when I’m coaching with clients is the impact of debt on that individual or families life.

It’s very rare that I work with someone who has no debt what so ever. Often the client knows how debt is impacting their lives but that isn’t always the case 100% of the time. Some [...]

Kicking off a new series
Getting on the same page with your spouse on your finances
Why this is important to do
Why it is initially hard, but worth it in the end
Quote of the lesson from Dave Ramsey

Back when I first started the show, I would group a lot of shows together and do a series on them. I love doing series because the shows have a similar theme and they build upon each other. If you look through the archives of the show you will see a variety of series I’ve done in the past.

But it hasn’t been something I’ve done recently, until now. Today I’m starting a series on lessons learned in financial coaching.

As someone who has been doing financial coaching for seven years now, I’ve noticed several [...]

Answering listeners questions
How to ask for a balance transfer
What the biggest issue is with your debt
Should you take vacations while in debt?
Quote of the lesson from Rory Vaden

When I first started the show back in 2010 one of the things I set out to do was to answer listener’s questions on personal finance issues.

It’s part of why I got into coaching in the first place, to teach and help people in their situation. Well on today’s lesson I get back to that a little as I’ve been looking around on Facebook and on other money forms and have found a few questions from real life people I’d like to answer. I want to answer them today because they are que [...]

What financial risk is . . . and isn’t
How we took a risk with our health insurance
Why we were able to take that risk
Reasons to get your financial house in order
Quote of the lesson from Tony Robbins

When I use the word “risk” associated with your finances what comes to mind?

Do you think of putting all your money into one investment that could go boom . . . or bust?

Do you think of quitting your day job on a whim to start a business with no money in savings?

Those are indeed risk, but risk in our finances doesn’t mean all or nothing. We face risk each day when we invest in the stock market. The stock market could lose value tomorrow.

When we buy a home, their is risk in [...]

In what ways debt free people think differently about money
The demographics of those who are debt free
Why giving plays a big role in those who are debt free
How you can help confirm my observations
Quote of the lesson from Wayne Dyer

When I first got into paying attention to my finances one of the first books I ready was the classic Millionaire Next Door by Dr. Tom Stanley. What I loved particularly about this book was the research Dr. Stanley did on real life millionaires. Not just athletes and entertainers. You really got insight into how millionaires think about earning, saving, and spending money.

Since then I’ve read other books by

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Why goals work
How to create SMART goals
The power of writing your goals down
Where to determine what your goals are in the first place
Quote of the lesson from Earl Nightingale

Goal setting is something we’ve discussed on the show before around this time of the year. It’s a good time to talk about financial goals because usually at the end of the year most of us are reflecting on what we’ve accomplished the previous year and look ahead to what lies ahead in the next one.

With that being said you might not be a big goal setter and you start to roll your eyes whenever you read or hear someone talk about goals. But I believe in setting goals because for me they have

Helped Lisa and I achieve what we [...]

How Lisa and I spent more than we made in 2016
Why I felt that we were throwing money away left in right this summer
Why Savings is our future goal
What are goals are for 2017
Quote of the lesson from John Maxwell

As a financial coach and mentor, one of the main things I teach and show clients is the importance of living on less then you make. Yes it is a simple concept in theory, but in practice very few of us actually do it.

But there it was on our net worth statement for the end of November.

Ways to spice up savings
The Pay Yourself First mentality of savings
How to realize that savings is actually future spending
Challenge yourself to save
Quote of the lesson

Savings vs. Spending. We can tackle this subject through a variety of lenses and as mentioned in the show we have. But today we are going to talk about it through a unique way that was helped inspired by a client I was working with a few months back.

The client wanted to save more money but wasn’t able to save as much as they wanted and instead was spending it on other areas. We tried to focus on ways to spend less in those areas, but for whatever reason it didn’t seem to work. So inste [...]

The Recovering Spender: How to Live a Happy, Fulfilled, Debt-Free Life

Does who we hang out with impact our finances?
Keeping up with the Jones’s is pressure we put on ourselves
How negative influences impact our finances
How positive influences impact our finances
Quote of the lesson from Jim Rohn

A few lesson’s back we shared how loaning money to family and friends can be a difficult situation to be in, both from a lender and borrower’s perspective. Well on today’s lesson we’re going to talk about friends and money but from a different angle.

It’s been said that y [...]

When to invest yourself and when to have the help of an advisor
Why invest yourself?
Why to enlist the help of an advisor
How an advisor can pay off
Quote of the lesson from George Horace Lorimer

Whenever I receive feedback from listeners of the show one of the main topics they would like to cover more is investing. I’m always a little hesitant to discuss investing because I am not a registered investment professional.

Yes I can speak to the differences between a ROTH and Traditional account, a 401(K) and an IRA, stocks vs. bonds vs. cash, and the importance of diversification. But not what specific investment is right for you.

I’ve attempted to learn more and self-educate, but the thing with investing is that if you search around people who are actually qualified, you’ll see that it seems like everyone has a different approach to investing. This makes it hard to decipher which is the right way [...]

The biggest inhibitor to winning with money is fear
How we saw this manifest in the election this week
How to discern between real fear and worry
Why fear shouldn’t drive our financial decisions
Quote of the lesson from Zig Ziglar

On today’s special lesson of the show, I do an impromptu discussion on how fear is one of the biggest inhibitors of achieving financial success.

Today’s discussion was spurred on by the event’s this past week revolving around our election on Tuesday. When it became clear that Donald Trump was heading towards getting the magical 270 electoral votes needed the stock market futures, not the real stock market,

Anyone else sick of the election and ready for it to be over?
Why Washington won’t and can’t change your finances
The importance of focusing on your economy
What you can spend your time focusing on instead
Quote of the lesson from Rory Vaden

Unless you are living under a rock, you know that the 2016 Presidential Election will all come to ahead this Tuesday when we will elect the 45th President of the United States of America. With that being said I think I speak for most Americans when I say that I’m ready for the election to be over.

But with that being said, voting for our leaders and issues on a national, stat [...]

Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success

The most difficult loan to handle is the one from family and friends
Why we borrow from family and friends
The dangers in doing them
Why it is important to have to clear communication when lending to or borrowing from family and friends
Quote of the lesson

When I hear stories of people getting out of debt, the debt that gives them the most trouble is often a loan from a family member or friend. Giving or receiving loans from relatives or friends sounds like a good idea, but if you aren’t careful they can easily turn into a nightmare and easily lead to a ruin relationship.

Now most of you know I don [...]

Most couples assume they need to sacrifice for child’s college fund
Benefits of doing each one
Do we need to pick one or the other?
The need to prioritize yourself over your children
Quote of the lesson from Chris Hogan

The topic of saving for our own retirement vs. saving for our child’s education has been on my mind a lot recently. That is because I’ve worked with a lot of couples who have children in college or are approaching college age and feel like they have to choose between funding their own retirement and funding their child’s education.

Today we dive into why doing each one of these things is important and share why if I had to choose between the two [...]

Retire Inspired: It's Not an Age, It's a Financial Number

Why I got into financial coaching
What Financial Coaching is
What Financial Coaching is not
Why this show is different than other financial podcasts
Quote of the lesson from Tom Landry

I got into Financial Coaching back in 2010, not because I knew everything there was to know about how to handle money or because I was going to make a full time gig out of it.

I got into Financial Coaching because I was tired of seeing those I know and care about make unwise financial decisions that either hurt them in the moment or gave them a higher degree of financial risk in the future.

Since getting into coaching my style has evolved and I have a better understanding of what work [...]

How to track your savings fund
Things to consider when deciding whether to lump your savings together or keep it separate
The only way to guarantee savings
How Lisa and I track our savings
Quote of the lesson

Today we are talking about a nice problem to have, how to track all of your savings accounts. If you aren’t there yet, don’t worry, you’ll get there as soon as you develop a plan, stick to it, and start to pay off your debt.

But how do you keep track of all the different saving funds? Once you become debt free and are able to bank more money each month you’ll be able to save money for variety of funds, including:

Emergency Fund
Vacation Fun [...]

Guest Tracey Minutolo joins us to talk about Side Hustling
What side hustling is and isn’t
How it has impacted Tracey’s finances
Why should someone side hustle
Quote of the lesson from Jon Acuff

Whenever I communicate with listeners of the show and ask what topics they would like me to cover on the show, one of the more popular requests is how to make more money through a side business or second job.

Starting something on the side is a great way to earn some money on the side. To improve you financial situation you can either do one of two things 1.) Cut back or 2.) Earn more income.

Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job & Your Dream Job

Why it is more important to focus on what you need to stop doing then to focus on what you need to start doing
What do you need to stop doing?
The difficulty in starting to do something new before you stop doing the old thing
Bad habits are tough to stop
Quote of the lesson from Peter Drucker

A few weeks back I was reading “Eventual Millionaire” by Jamie Tardy and read upon a quote that made me pause and ponder for a few moments. The quote was from author and management consultant Peter Drucker.

“Don’t tell me what you’re doing. Tell me what you stopped doing.”

The quote blew [...]

The Eventual Millionaire: How Anyone Can Be an Entrepreneur and Successfully Grow Their Startup

What knowing our finances means
Why most of us don’t know or understand our financial situation
What understanding our finances does for us
How to start knowing and understanding our finances
Quote of the lesson from Charles Kettering

How well do you know your finances?

Even better, do you understand your finances?

Most of us don’t know our finances, and even less of us understand our finances.

What’s the difference you might ask, well it turns out there is a big difference and on today’s show we’ll discuss what both are and why they important to winning with money.

Knowing our finances means we are aware or are informed about our money. This [...]

What is the EMV Chip Debit Card?
Difference between running your debit card as “Credit” vs “Debit”
Why the EMV Chip Card will reduce fraud
My Experience in using my EMV Chip Card
Quote of the lesson from T. Harv Eker

The other day I went to get my mail and saw that I had gotten a new debit card in the mail. After opening it up I noticed something different from my previous card. On the side of the card was a chip that I had never seen before. After doing some research I found out that the chip is the EMV chip and is now standard on most debit and credit cards.

Today we’re going to talk about the EMV [...]

The average US household financial stats
What these stats say about your economy
What to do to be better than average
Motivation to not be financially average
Quote of the lesson

My wife and I have had a lot of changes in our life this past year. We’ve added a new member to our family, spent some money updating our home, bought a new van, and got a raise in income.

Because of these life events we have been forced in the past year to look at some things in our finances and determine if we need to make any updates. This got me thinking on that others might have these same “problems” or “issues.”

So today we [...]

The average US household financial stats
What these stats say about your economy
What to do to be better than average
Motivation to not be financially average
Quote of the lesson from Steve Siebold

When I first started the blog and the podcast, one of my most popular posts that gained some traction was the Don’t be Average blog post. In this post I shared some average financial statistics on income, debt, and savings which I tried to paint a picture that the average financial situation in America isn’t all the great. Since the original post back in 2010 I updated it for

How to balance enjoying money now vs. enjoying it later
The three questions Lisa and I ask when making a purchase
Why the amount in your bank account doesn’t tell you what you SHOULD do, it tells you what you CAN do.
Should I be spending on luxuries when I’m in debt?
Quote of the lesson from Warren Buffett

One of the most common issues that I encounter when I’m working with an individual or a couple is how to balance long term goals like saving, investing, or paying off debt vs. making a big purchase such as a car or a fancy vacation.

It’s a great question, because while we do our monthly budget [...]

A Review of FeeX.com
Why Feex.com is a good way to learn about the fees you are paying on your investments
What Feex.com won’t do for your investing
How fees aren’t the only thing to look at when it comes to investing
Quote of the lesson from Geeta Iyencar

On the heels of last week’s lesson of the podcast with guest Greg Whitaker discussing the risk of 401(K)’s and how fees impact your return, I decided to do a review of website I discovered about two years ago called FeeX.com

Feex [...]

Guest Greg Whitaker joins us to share his take on 401(K)’s
Why fees cut into our retirement saving and what you can do to avoid paying them
What to do to learn about investing
How the inability to delay gratification is impacting our retirement
Quote of the lesson

Greg Whitaker from DebtSheperd.com joins us today to share why the 401(K)’s are not the safe investment that we have been led to believe.

Greg teaches financial freedom gained from 16 years in the mortg [...]

Guest John Pugliano joins us to share the result of 30 years of frugal living has had on his finances
Simple rule that allow the Pugliano’s to become financially independent
The crucial element to building wealth
Why you need to focus on what is really important to build wealth
Quote of the lesson from Jon Acuff

John Pugliano from wealthsteading.com joins us today to share the impact that 30 years of frugal living has had on his family’s finances.

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The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy

Guest Phil Danley joins us to how he and his wife paid off their debt, including the mortgage
What led Phil and his wife to dump debt and be done with it forever
The difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it
Life after debt and what Phil did that he could only do if we was debt free
Quote of the lesson from Helen Hayes

Quite often when we hear debt free stories we assume that it is all fun and games and whenever you start to pay off your debt that it will automatically.

However that rarely happens.

A lot times it takes people a few tries before they are done with debt for good.

Today’s guest on the show had a similar path.

[...]

Guest Monica Louie joins us to talk about how her family paid off $120K in debt in two years
What motivated them to pay off so much debt
Why they sold their house to reach their financial goal
The power of having a common goal in your marriage
Quote of the lesson from Dave Ramsey

Today we continue with our series of guest interviews by welcoming Monica Louie from OurDebtFreeFamily.com to the show. Monica is a fellow financial coach and today she shares how her and her husband paid off $120,000 dollars in exactly two years.

Guest Brad Baldridge joins us to talk about taming the high cost of college
We won’t give unless we are first content with what we currently have
How to become a giver year round
Why giving works best when the money is set aside to do it
Quote of the lesson from Satchel Paige

Today we are joined by guest Brad Baldridge of TamingTheHighCostOfCollege.com to talk about how to plan for college.

Brad Baldridge, CFP®, is a College Funding Consultant specializ [...]

If giving isn’t a priority, it isn’t going to happen
We won’t give unless we are first content with what we currently have
How to become a giver year round
Why giving works best when the money is set aside to do it
Quote of the lesson from Anne Frank

I think giving is something we’d all like to do a better job of, but usually don’t. There are a lot of reasons for that but today’s lesson is about encouraging us to become better givers.

Because let’s face it, when was the last time you gave and didn’t enjoy it? I think when we truly give money, not out of obligation or of guilt, it is [...]

What recent college graduates can do to put themselves in position to succeed financially
How to know where you stand financially
Why developing a spending plan is a process, not an event
Why having a map when you are trying to get out of debt is extremely important
Quote of the lesson from Karl Pearson

This time of the year is graduation season. I love coaching with people in the life stage because it is an important time in their life and they are full of energy and questions and are also very teachable.

Today’s lesson we are going to be discussing the three things that recent college graduates can do to take control of their finances. The good ne [...]

The role that the credit score plays in the financial industryWhat role should it play in your finances?What a credit score can’t do for your financesBuild up other financial disciplines in your life, credit score won’t matterQuote of the lesson from Tony Robbins

There are tons of resources online about the credit score: ways to improve your credit score, how the credit scoring system works, and products you can buy to boost your score. But most of those resources harp on the importance of a credit score.

But why do we need a credit score? If you don’t plan on borrowing money, do you actually need to worry about it?

On today’s podcast lesson we are going to discuss the credit [...]

MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom

Based on the article ‘How Much Student Loan Debt Is Too Much?
That question is a game of how close to the edge of the cliff can we get to before we fall off
What question should we be focusing on instead?
Rather focus on getting away from debt as much as possible
Quote of the lesson

What is more important, determining what the most amount of debt you can take out or determining how you can purchase an education, home, car, etc the cheapest way?

Inspired by an article titled

How are creditors and borrowers supposed to act
What a debt agreement actually is
Viewpoint from the borrower and the creditor
How to avoid the rat race all together
Quote of the lesson

Do creditors have an obligation to lend money and treat borrowers with decency?

Do borrowers have a responsible to pay back their loans, even when it isn’t convenient or beneficial to do so?

We tackle those tough questions on today’s lesson. This lesson was inspired after listening to other shows and reading material such as David Graeber’s book “Debt-The First 5,000 Years” that left a bad taste in my mouth.

To be honest doing research on this lesson really helped me fo [...]

Debt: The First 5,000 Years,Updated and Expanded

We love to share our success, shy away from our setbacks
Financial setbacks occur frequently
How to recover from a financial setback
Financial setbacks are painful in the short run, but can be beneficial in the long run
Quote of the lesson

Financial setbacks happen more times than we like to admit. It’s not something we like to talk a lot about and who can blame us? It’s easier and more enjoyable sharing and listening to shows that share their debt free stories or other stories of success. Not so much fun to share our failures. Often because their can be a lot of shame, embarrassment, and frustration associated with a financial setback.

Ther [...]

Personal Finance is more than just the numbers
What is Mindset?
What Mindset on money do you have that is a hindrance?
How our mindset impacts our finances
Quote of the lesson from Adam Braun

A lot of us are scared to look at and manage our finances. Often because the thought of dealing with numbers is a scary proposition. But the more and more I study and learn about personal finance, the more I realize that the numbers are actually a small part of the process and that behavior is actually more important.

I think Dave Ramsey says it best that “Personal Finance is 80% behavior and only 20% head knowledge.” So today we [...]

Why I wrote “A Tale of Two Houses”
What inspired me to write a book in the first place
What “A Tale of Two Houses” isn’t about
What “A Tale of Two Houses” is about
Quote of the lesson from Chris Rock

Now that my new book “A Tale of Two Houses-Our journey of buying a house the right way after buying one the wrong way “ is now available for purchase I wanted to take some time and share why I wrote it.

Writing a book is a big undertaking. The actual writing of the book is very hard, but that might be the most easiest thing in the whole proces [...]

Having a down payment is an important part of buying a home
Where not to get a down payment for your next home
Borrowing money for a down payment is like a shell game
Why we need to beware of government programs that “help” home buyers
Quote of the lesson from David Henry Thoreau

Having a down payment for your next home is an important thing to do. So much that I spent a chapter in my new book on buying a home, A Tale of Two Houses, talking about it.

But today we are going to be talking about where to NOT get a down [...]

Different format to the show today
Sharing my thoughts from doing 100 lessons of the show
Doing the podcast has taught me a lot about money
How you can help show your support for the show
How you can buy a copy of “A Tale of Two Houses”

For the 100th lesson of the JW’s Financial Coaching Podcast, we’re going to do something different. I’m sharing 100 different money thoughts I’ve learned since I started the show.

If you have been a listener to the show for a long period of time you know that there have been more than 100 lessons of the show. I originally started the show bac [...]

What we learned when purchasing a new vehicle
Why our opinion of car payments was reinforced
How paying for cars in cash is worth the price
“A Tale of Two Houses” Webinar replay
Quote of the lesson from Dave Ramsey

Today’s lesson we share a recent personal story of how we paid cash for our latest vehicle purchase. Paying for a new vehicle in cash felt amazing, but also left me in a little bit of a haze. Find out what put me in the haze, and how I snapped out of it.

Just for fun I decided to determine what our payment would have been had we took out a loan. I then compared it to o [...]

Is your house an investment or a liability?
Not always a Black or White answer
How you buy your house helps determine whether it is an investment or liability
How to attend the Pre-Sale Launch Webinar for “A Tale of Two Houses”
Quote of the lesson

I’m hosting a webinar on Tuesday March 8th at 9PM EST for the Pre-Launch Party for my new book “A Tale of Two Houses-Our journey of buying a home the right way after buying one the wrong way.” I hope to see you [...]

Is your 401(K) or IRA balance down?
Four things to remember when the stock market is down
Can a short term down market actually be a good long term thing?
How to attend the Pre-Sale Launch Webinar for “A Tale of Two Houses”
Quote of the lesson from Urban Meyer

Have you checked your 401(K) or IRA balance lately? If so you might have noticed a smaller amount since the last time you checked. The reason is this

Why I track my net worth on a monthly basis
Can’t move forward until you know where you stand
Shows where we’ve been and where we’re going
How to calculate your net worth
Quote of the lesson from Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wikipedia defines the term net worth as is the total assets minus total outside liabilities of an individual. I’ve talked about net worth before but today I’m focusing on the ways tha [...]

How many of us don’t work together on our finances in our marriage.
Why financial infidelity is so destructive
What the power of a joint account brings to your marriage
How to become a member of the Launch team for A Tale of Two Homes
Quote of the lesson from Earl Nightingale

According to a poll conducted by creditcards.com currently in America there are about 13 million people who are committing financial infidelity. That is [...]

It’s important to know what to do when purchasing a home
Even more important to know what to do before you start the process
The most important three things to do before we purchase a home
Revelation of the title to my book on buying and selling a new home
Quote of the lesson from Suze Orman

The whole home buying process can be stressful. Because of that, I’m releasing a book this spring which details our experience in buying a home. Not only do we share our story but we also give tips and advice on what [...]

Paying too much in cable or satellite tv costs?
Is Sling TV an attractive alternative to cable
My review of Sling TV
Why it is a good option if you are looking to cut costs
Quote of the lesson from Thomas Jefferson

Final Lesson of 2015 sharing my random thoughts on the Christmas season
Christmas gifts are about the children
Having the spirit of giving throughout the year, not just in December
Saving for Christmas in January
2015 was great, looking forward to even better things in 2016

In this final lesson of 2015 we are going to discuss Christmas. Specifically I’m sharing some thoughts I have had in my mind this year. It is a little bit different of a show but we are going to discuss primarily the following three topics:

Continuation of the series we started last lesson
Five exercises to take control of your finances
More advanced techniques and tips on today’s lesson
How to enter for a chance to a win a copy of “The School of Greatness” by Lewis Howes
Quote of the lesson

After last lesson on how to start to take control of your finances, we finish that up by giving five more tips that you can do to take your finances to the next level. These are actually a little more details and advanced then the basic we had last time. They are as follows:

D [...]

Want to set a solid financial foundation but don’t know where to start?
Five exercises to take control of your finances
Why it is important to have your goals set before the new year
How to enter for a chance to a win a copy of “The School of Greatness” by Lewis Howes
Quote of the lesson

Hard to believe it but 2015 is almost over. That means it’s time to focus on what we want to do in 2016. You might be thinking, “Wow, can’t I enjoy Christmas first before I focus on 2016?” While that is true, the thing I’ [...]

How being healthy improves our bottom line
Eating healthy improves our waist line and our wallet
It sounds obvious but being healthy saves you money at the doctor
Want to make more money? Try resting more
Quote of the lesson

One of the things that I have really been trying to be conscious of this year is my health. It’s been a process and I am by no means perfect, but I’ve come to grips with the fact that how I treat my body impacts how I feel at that moment. I used to eat whatever I felt like, sleep whenever, and exercise when I had the time, but now that doesn [...]

In ode to Back to the Future Day; things to do today to help your financial future
Our financial future will be here before we know it
The importance of planing seeds today
Quick review of Lewis Howe’s “School of Greatness”
Quote of the lesson

The movie, Back to the Future II, premiered on November 22 1989, which also happened to be my eight birthday. If you’ve seen the movie you know that part of the plot is the main characters going into the future, October 21st 2015. Now since the premier was almost 26 years ag [...]

Can a teenager invest in an IRA?
Better to invest in retirement or in college when a teen?
What I recommend doing
Quick review of Andy Stanley’s “How to be Rich”
Quote of the week

I learned a lot of lessons in my teens and early twenties. Some of them were good and some not so good. But one of the best lessons I learned was the value of work. Not only did I learn the value of hard work, I also learned the value of relationships, became motivated to finish school and get my degree, as well as learning about money. That is why I was [...]

Today’s lesson is all about an article from the Washington Post titled “The remarkably high odds you’ll be poor at some point in your life.”
Great reminder that our financial is never permanent; it’s always in a constant state of flux
Great odds we will be both poor and rich at some point in our lives
Hey I joined Periscope
Quote of the week

I’ll be honest with you. There are some weeks it is difficult to come up with material for the show. After doing a podcast for almost five years, you run out of stuff to cover. But then [...]

The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business

A lot of times financial stress is caused by using financial products not in a way that they were originally intended for
Why retirement, insurance, emergency savings, and your house shouldn’t be used for other things
How using those products what they were intended for will make your financial life easier
What to do with your tax refund
Quote of the week

For a lot of us, money can be a difficult and confusing thing to grasp. There are a lot of reasons for this including lack of financial awareness, family history, no desire to learn how to handle money. But the more and more I hear people talk ab [...]

Remembering Dr. Thomas J. Stanley
Why do we treat the source of money differently?
Anthem and Identity Theft
Guest media appearances
Quote of the week

Today’s show is in memory of Dr. Thomas Stanley,

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy

I wonder what would happen if the grocery store checkout lanes contained positive material?
Today’s lesson inspired by a thought I had while grocery shopping
The power of negative thinking
How what we are putting into our mind impacts our bottom line
Quote of the week

Today’s lesson is inspired by a thought I had a few weeks ago at the grocery store. No it wasn’t about how much groceries cost or how in the world we’re going to afford groceries when our two boys go through adolescence. But more along the lines of what would happen at t [...]

Business Secrets from the Bible: Spiritual Success Strategies for Financial Abundance

Unscripted show today
Not about goal setting, rather;
What’s holding you back from accomplishing your goals?
We might not like the answer to that question
The Countdown to take control of 2015

This lesson is light on show notes. The reason is because this show is unscripted. Usually around New Year’s I discuss the importance of setting goals. While I still think goal setting is important, today we focus on what’s holding you back from accomplishing those dreams and goals.

Instead of simply setting our goals for the year and mapping [...]

What the Latte Factor metaphor is
Popularized by David Bach’s book Automatic Millionaire
What you can do instead of the Latte Factor
What are you doing with your extra money from lower gas prices?
Quote of the week

I love to read. I especially love to read books on personal finance. It doesn’t matter who is the author. Lately I’ve read a few books from Ramit Sethi (

I Will Teach You To Be Rich

How to Be Richer, Smarter, and Better-Looking Than Your Parents

The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich

Sharing a revelation I had about FICO
What the FICO score really is
Don’t make financial decisions based on a product
Making financial decisions based on what others tell us is important
Quote of the week

I’ve spoke and written before about my feelings about the FICO score before but today I want to share a revelation I had recently reading an article talking about FICO’s new credit scoring system FICO 9.

There is a lot of great quotes in there but the light that went on in my head while reading the article was the FICO isn’t a score . . . it’s a product. I’ve always known FICO is a product but it really dawned on me the absurdity of measuring how well we are doing financially based on a product. What [...]

Is their a link between amount spent on your wedding and the quality of the marriage?
What the research tells us
Why bigger isn’t always better
Why the rich aren’t afraid to ask for a deal
Quote of the week

On today’s lesson of the show we discuss an article I found titled “Expensive Rings Linked to Higher Divorce Rate”. The article points to a recent study which found that their is a correlation money spent on an engagement ring and a wedding and the chances of y [...]

What is Automation
Why do we automate our finances
How to automate your finances
Pros and Cons of automation
Quote of the week

To automate or not to automate? Automation is all the rage in personal finance. Today we discuss the what, why, and how of automating your finances as well as discuss the pros and cons of automation.

Automation can be a great tool to use in getting your financial order, but is it the be all and end all? In addition we also share feedback I’ve received on the topic from s [...]

Can a saver learn to spend money if it is not their natural tendency?
How saving can be taken too far
Why it is important to spend and not just save
Ways to help a saver loosen up their spending
Quote of the week

On the last lesson of the podcast we shared how it was possible for a spender to learn to save. Well on this week’s lesson we flip the script and share how a saver can loosen up their spending. Saving money in of itself is not a bad thing; however [...]

Can a spender learn to save money if it is not their natural tendency?
Why being a spender is not a bad thing
What keeps us from saving money
Ways to help us save more money
Quote of the week

Can a spender learn to save their money? I hear all the time from people, “I’m a spender, so I can’t possibly be expected to live on a budget or save money?”

But is that a valid reason to not save money? On today’s lesson we discuss why being a spender is not a bad thing, but rather it is the over spending that gets us. We also discuss what three things that keeps us from saving money, how to change those three things into our favor, and give three practical ways to increase your saving each month.

This lesson’s quote come from Dan [...]

Wisdom Meets Passion: When Generations Collide and Collaborate

What is “fun” money” and why it is important to have it in our budget
How to do “fun” money the right way
Why “fun” money is not an allowance
What the difference is between “fun” money and stopping at the ATM when you are low on cash
Quote of the week

Enjoyed this lesson? If so please consider taking five minutes to leave a review of the show either in Stitcher SmartRadio, or iTunes. For a step by step video of how that works, please watch this video on how to leave a review in iTunes.

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How people can be in the same situation but experience a completely different result
Based on Jim Collins chapter in Great by Choice on Return on Luck
How to get to the best return on your luck and to avoid making bad luck a disaster
We all catch breaks; it’s what you do with those breaks that matter the most
How are your 2014 goals coming along?

Have you ever noticed how you can have people in the identical situation, yet the results vary drastically? Why does this happen? Is there a particular reason why some prosper in certain situation while others struggle to stay afloat? Today we examine this situation further and try to come up with an explanation.

Inspired by last weekend being Father’s day weekend
Challenge/Encouragement to all the Dads listening
Take the lead in your families finances
Best way your children will learn is from you
Still applies to you even if you aren’t a dad

With last week being Father’s Day, today’s lessons is achallenge/encouragement/motivation on Father’s taking the lead on our families finances. Yes, schools need to teach our children about how money works in our schools. But the best teach on finances isn’t in your child’s school. It is the people who live in their homes.

Today’s lesson is full of ways to take the lead [...]

Good to be back after three months off
What I learned about money while on hiatus
The importance of having strong financial influences in your life
How life events impact your finances
My interview with Deacon Bradley

Credit: Getty Images

It’s good to be back back doing a lesson this week. I took a partial planned, partial unplanned three month break. But today I’m back and share what I’ve learned about money the past few months. Also I share how you can catch my appearance on episode one of my friend Deacon Bradley’s new podcast. Deacon had me on to share [...]

How the “Disease of More” applies to our finances
Why we think we’ll be content with “just a little bit more”
Is it wrong to want more?
The fine line between being content and achievement
Why an emergency fund is more about comfort and not about the math

“Success is often the first step toward disaster.”

Hall of Fame NBA coach Pat Riley wrote that in his book Showtime. He coined it the “Disease of More.” It came from what he observed from his teams after they won the NBA championship. The year after winning the title it was a natural tendency for the players to stop focusing on what it took to win the championship. Instead they focused on individual [...]

Showtime: Inside the Laker's Breakthrough Season

Bankruptcy should be considered as a last resort; not as a first
If you do decide to file make it a sound decision instead of an emotional one
The ramifications of filing bankruptcy are more than just getting your debt cleared
What bankruptcy won’t do for your finances
What happens when you write a bad check to the Girl Scouts

Talking about Bankruptcy is not something I enjoy doing. It is also something I hope you are not going through. However I field calls and emails all the time from people who feel like they are stuck and their only way out is to file. To me Bankruptcy is like divorce, there are good people who go through divorce but is isn’t something I suggest people go through.

But with that being said, I’m not angry or disappointed in you do end us filing for Bankruptcy protection. However I recommend filing only as a last result, after you have tried everything else first. On todayR [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

What to do after your consumer debt is gone; save for retirement or pay extra on the mortgage
Pros and Cons of investing for retirement
Pros and Cons of paying extra on the mortgage
Why my wife and I currently do both
What I have been reading lately

What would your rather do with your extra money each month; invest for retirement or pay extra on the mortgage. Now no matter what you do, investing for retirement and paying extra on the mortgage are both good things to do. But is one preferable to the other? Today we break down the pros and cons of doing each and I share what my wife and I are currently doing with our extra money.

Highlights of today’s show:

Advertisers know what to do with your tax refund
The three basic things to know about the tax systems
Ways to lower your taxable income
Tax credits you might qualify for
Why I think the tax system is too complex

After talking about four major tax myths in last weeks lesson, today we share tips on how to reduce your taxes for this upcoming filing season and beyond. Before we learn how to lower our taxes we first need to know the following three basic things:

Our Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)-Our AGI is the amount that we pay taxes on before deduc [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

Why taxes are so frustrating and confusing
Is it wise to get a big tax refund?
Explaining the tax system
The difference between a deduction and a credit
Tax software vs. Accountants. Who should you go with?

The only thing certain in life is death and taxes. We chuckle every time we hear this because it is true. Taxes aren’t something that you or I like to discuss. Mostly because taxes are money going out instead of coming in. But with that being said, taxes are a major component of our finances and we often make decisions based on the tax implications.

With that being said there are a lot of myths that we believe when it comes to our taxes. Today we break down four of them.

Tax Myth #1-It’s good to get a tax refund

This might be a little overstated. I’d rather you get $2,000 back in a refund than owe $2,000. But a tax refund is [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

Is freezing your credit report right for you?
How freezing your credit can help protect against identity theft
The downsides of freezing your credit
Should I take the stability of a company into account when choosing a term life policy?
What happens when your life insurance company goes into receivership

Highlights of today’s show:

Five good financial habits to start doing today
The power of good habits on your life
The need to invest in yourself
How giving with purpose will improve your finances
Importance of continuing to learn

As a follow up to last weeks lesson on the five bad financial habits that are the toughest to break we talk about five good financial habits to start doing today. Good financial habits allow you to do incredible things, not just with your money but with your life. Tod [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

The five toughest financial habits to break
My observations from working with clients over the years
How to break those bad habits
Your list of bad financial habits
How you can contribute to the completion of my new book

Websters defines a habit as a usual way of behaving or something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way. As a financial coach I’ve seen how good financial habits can help you reach your goals and I’ve also seen how bad financial habits can prevent you from reaching those same goals. Today I’m going to discuss the five bad financial habits that are the toughest to break.

Highlights of today’s show:

Greg Pare joins me on the show
Shares how to B.A.N.K more in One Four
What happens when you budget your money before the month begins
The importance of knowing your why
Do something to make your 2014 a better year financially

Greg Pare from Gregpare.com joins me on today’s show to discuss how you can B.A.N.K More in One Four. Most people set resolutions and goals in the new year but fail to reach them. According to a ComPsych Magazine survey, 92% of people lose sleep over finances. Greg came up with this concept as a way to show people how they can actually plan to save more and achieve their desired result.

Highlights of today’s show:

Good to be back on the show
My views and beliefs on money
What I believe about money is different than traditional financial advice
This was reinforced this past week
What you can do to jump start your finances this January

It’s good to be back. I’ve been off doing the weekly show for three months after the birth of our second son. Things have finally calmed down and I’m excited to be doing the shows once again.

Since this is the relaunch of the show so to speak, I would like to talk today about what the JW’s Finanical Coaching Podcast is all about. Today I discuss my five core beliefs on money and how they apply to your life.

In addition I share an

Highlights of today’s show:

Your 2013 year in review
What was the best thing you did with your finances in 2013?
What one thing are you looking forward to doing in 2014 with your finances?
Do you have a plan for 2014?
The What, Why, and How of goal setting

Today is one of my favorite shows to do each year. Not because I have a great guest on or it is me talking about some profound topic, it is because this show is all about YOU. I asked you to answer the following two questions:

What’s the best thing you’ve done with your finances this year?

What one thing are you looking forward to doing in 2014 with your finances?

Highlights of today’s show:

Special Thanksgiving edition of the podcast
The importance of being thankful
What I am financially thankful for in 2013
Until you appreciate what you have you will never be content with what you get
How you can help with the 2013 Year End Podcast

Welcome to a special edition of the JW’s Financial Coaching Podcast. As many of you know the show has been on hiatus while my wife and I were having our second child. Well I am happy to report that mom and baby son are doing well and we are adjusting to home life with two young boys.

Today’s show is based on a blog post I wrote last week titled

Highlights of today’s show:

How to stay focused on your long term goal

We are so often distracted by the little things in life Break your long term goal into smaller, traceable pieces Not getting burnt out on your long term goal Announcement on the future of the show

We all have different reasons for wanting to manage our money well. Some of us want to have the freedom to do the things we want to, like giving or traveling. Others want to manage money well so they don’t have to cringe at paying another bill. Still others want to manage their money well so they can change their family dynamic. Whatever your reason, there are so many things in our lives that take away our focus and prevent us from getting where we want to be.

Highlights of today’s show:

How to handle the finances when you get your first big job
Why it’s important to clear your debt early
What do you do when you get a promotion?
How to avoid lifestyle inflation
Our next Google Hangout

Getting your big job is really exciting. It’s a transition from your childhood to being an adult. I remember the first time I got my paycheck from my real job. I was used to getting $100 a week checks working part time jobs in college so when I got my first paycheck after working two weeks I thought I was rich!

It is also exciting because it is nice to have options with what you want to do with your money. It is totally different from a job in high school or college where you are just earning money to spend on the weekends.
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Highlights of today’s show:

Moving is a major life event

How moving out of our house went

The financial surprises you incur while moving

How we did on our budget when moving

The three things Lisa and [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

Giving is one of the three things we do with money

What giving allows you to do When did we start having to get to give? What sacrificial giving is When is the last time you gave sacrificially?

Today’s show is one I came up with off the top of my mind. I have been thinking about the topic of giving lately and I have noticed how we always have to “get” something now when we give. My question is: when did this happen? I also discuss why I feel this can potentially be dangerous.

Now that I have shared my thoughts what are yours? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Highlights of today’s show:

Life and Money series
How do your finances change when you become an empty nester?
How to re-evaluate your goals
Is downsizing right for you?
How to make sure that you stay an empty nester

The “Life and Money” series continues by discussing your finances when you become an empty nester. The definition of an empty nester is a parent whose children have grown and moved away from home. Being an empty nester is an interesting life stage as you are shifting from raising and spending money on your child, to having more time and money available for yourself.

Today we discuss in detail three things you need to decide when you are an empty nester

What are your

Highlights of today’s show:

Life and Money series

How do your finances change when you go from having no kids to having children? Children do cost money but they don’t have to break the bank Where children can help you save money The life event that quietly puts you behind financially

Today we continue our “Life and Money” series by discussing how your finances change when you go from being a dual income no kids (DINKS) family to having children. No doubt your finances will change when you have children but don’t believe the myth out there that all of a sudden you will have to go to the poor house once you have children.

Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents

Highlights of today’s show:

Continuing our series on finances and life events

How do your finances change when you are retired? Practice living on your retirement income while you are still working There is nothing wrong with still earning an income in retirement How to avoid having to cut back on lifestyle in retirement

There is an illusion in our country right now when it comes to the subject of retirement. Most of us expect our quality of life to increase in retirement, however in reality that is far from the truth. According to recent research done by the Employee Benefits Research Institute, only 13% said that they’re very confident they will be able to aff [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

New series starting today focusing on finances and life events

When to start talking about money when you are dating What to do financially when you are engaged Why you don’t want to just ignore disagreements over money Why getting on the same page financially is so important

Today on the podcast we start a series I’ve wanted to do for a long time. We’re going to be focusing on specific life events and how our finances are impacted. The series kicks off by discussing finances for couples who are seriously dating or engaged.

Engaged and newly married couples are one of my favorite groups t [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

My wife, Lisa, joins me on today’s show
We’re getting ready to move!
The process of purchasing our new home
The one thing you don’t want to forget when buying a home
The importance of buying a home you can afford

My wife and I have been busy packing for our upcoming move but we were able to take a few minutes and share what has been going on in our lives the past few weeks. On Lesson #48 Lisa and I shared how we are in contract with our condo and we were looking for a new home. Well, a few weeks have passed and a lot of things have happened. We didn’t get the house we really wanted, but we did find a hou [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

The Daily Habits of Wealthy People
Discuss research found in CFP Tom Corley’s book Rich Habits
Being wealthy is about making daily habits
Those habits aren’t anything special or secret
What habits do you need to develop?

Ever since I read the book The Millionaire Next Door by Dr. Thomas Stanley I have been fascinated with the habits of the wealthy. So I was pretty excited to come across an article on Yahoo the other day profiling Certified Financial Planner Tom Corley and the research he did on the habits of the wealthy. [...]

Rich Habits - The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy

Highlights of today’s show:

What is the difference between a credit report and a credit score

Why you need to monitor your credit report How to get your credit report for free How to fix errors on your credit report Monitor your report even if you aren’t planning on borrowing money

Why are we talking about the credit report today? Because according to reports, about 25% of credit reports contain errors, although only about 2% of them could impact you getting a mortgage or not. But even if you aren’t getting a mortgage soon, checking your credit report at least once a year is highly recommended.

Sometimes, though, we [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

My wife, Lisa White, joins us to give an update on our house selling adventure

Finally got an offer on our home! How to win in negotiations We’re in contract What’s next for us in the upcoming months

My wife, Lisa, has joined the show a few times in the past few months to share how we went about selecting a realtor and how to

Highlights of today’s show:

What does financial independence actually mean?
Should one strive for financial independence?
How financial independence is all relative
Becoming independent from debt
Becoming independent from work

The term “Financial Independence” gets thrown around a lot and it can mean different things to different people. With this being the first week in July, since the United States is getting ready to celebrate the nation’s birthday and independence on July 4th, I thought it would be great to talk about achieving financial independence.

Wikipedia defines Financial Independence as: a term generally [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

What Financial ADD looks like
Why we are susceptible to it
How Financial ADD is like cleaning your house
The power of focusing on your finances
What is the order you should focus on?

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is when a person has a hard time concentrating on a particular situation for a short period of time. It is believed that 4% of Americans today have ADD. In my experience coaching individuals and couples, a far greater percentage suffer from what I call Financial ADD.

Financial ADD is simply trying to do many things with money at once, and therefore not getting any traction and failing to complete any of them. These things can be all good things such as:

Highlights of today’s show:

We can all sometimes get lethargic when it comes to our finances
Whether you are rich, poor, struggling, doing well, 20 years old or 70 years old
To get out of netural, try establishing a new goal
Do something new in your budget, whether spending or giving
Look at what your lack of attention and focus is costing you

No matter how much money you make, how old you are, how well you are doing financially, or how long you have been working on your finances, there will be times when you hit the wall. You don’t want to budget, you overspend, and you put your finances on cruise control. Today we talk about three situations where you might shift into neutral with your finances.

You are doing OK financially. Having OK fina [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

Going through special limited offers I’ve receive in my mail lately
How a reward credit card that helps pay off your mortgage might cost you more in the long run
Don’t pay the bank money for something you can do yourself
Avoid reverse mortgages like the plague
Indecision can impact your finances

Have you gone to your mailbox and found some junk mail from your local bank offering you a special limited time offer? After you open it up you are about to throw it in the recycle pile, but you keep reading and say to yourself, “this actually might be a good deal for me.”

If so, don’t worry; I’ve done it too. But often we forget to read the fine print and once we do [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

Talking about the one person other than yourself that can help your finances
How to build momentum with your finances
Just getting started with something new is 70% of the battle
You’ll be amazed at how far you’ve come if you track your progress
Connecting with others and talking about your journey will keep you focused

Obviously when it comes to your finances, the person who will help change your finances the most is yourself. But is there another person who will help you change your finances? There is and it’s not the financial guru on the TV or the radio and it’s not even me. The person who can help your finances is called Big Mo.

But seriously, Big Mo isn’t a real person. Big Mo is short for moment [...]

The Compound Effect

Highlights of today’s show:

It’s the time of the year to take vacations
How vacations can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you fund them
Tips to save money while on vacation
Tips to save money while planning vacations
The best vacations are the ones that don’t follow you home

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend in the United States. It’s the day we celebrate those who lost their lives in serving our country in the armed forces. It’s also the unofficial start of summer, which can mean only one thing . . . vacation season!

According to a recent survey, 77% of US households are planning on taking a summer vacation this year. I’m all for that as one of the reasons why I teach this stuff is to put yourselves in position t [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

Getting out of debt is a goal for most everyone
But some of us don’t know where to start
Discussing the three steps to getting ready to get out of debt
My wife Lisa joins the show to share an update on how selling our house is going
Receive access to the “JW’s Manifesto on Money” by signing up for the JW’s Financial Coaching newsletter

Almost everyone I talk with about money has a goal to become debt free or is already there. It’s very rare that I talk to someone who doesn’t wish or express a desire to not owe anything to anyone. The problem is not a lack of desire to get out of debt, it’s not knowing where to start. The only way to truly pay off your debt is to PAY IT OFF! That’s pretty ob [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

One of the best things you can do for your marriage is to get on the same page financially
Focus more on the “Why” instead of the “What”
Sometimes you have to compromise
Share what getting on the same page would mean to you
Receive access to the “JW’s Manifesto on Money” by signing up for the JW’s Financial Coaching newsletter

I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s that my wife and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary this week, or maybe that it’s wedding season. But I felt like today I needed to talk on the podcast about how to get you and your spouse on the same page financially. It’s one of the best things that can happen to your finances but a lot of times it’s harder said than done and will keep a couple from winni [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

How to talk about money amongst your peers
Why talking about money is so taboo
How talking about money can encourage you and your peers
Talking about money the right way and the wrong way
Discount through May on the “You graduated from college . . . now what?”

Supposedly there are three things you aren’t supposed to bring up in conversation: 1.) Politics 2.) Sex 3.) Religion But I think a fourth thing needs to be added to the list: money. On today’s show we share why we have a tough time as a culture discussing money. I feel that one of the reasons why we struggle with finances in our nation is due to our inability to talk about money properly. However when we do talk about money we make it awkward. Here are some thing [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

Answering listeners’ questions on personal finance
Can money in an HSA count towards your emergency fund?
How to decided between going on vacation and paying down your mortgage
It’s all about ratios when deciding between spending and saving
How grocery shopping with credit cards can make you fat

One of the biggest reasons I started this podcast three years ago was to help answer listeners’ questions on money. Today we answer two questions sent in by the listening audience.

The first question is regarding Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and emergency funds. Should you count your money saved up in an HSA as part of your emergency fund? First of all I love HSA’s and have used them for over five years now. In short, HSA’s are savings accounts that you can contribute tax free money to help pay for medical expenses. The best thing about them is that you c [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

Confessions of a Financial Coach
Even though I teach this stuff, I still have struggled with money
Being honest to help motivate you
It’s OK if you make mistakes, just learn from them.
Another reason to have an emergency fund

I have a confession to make; even though I’m a financial coach I haven’t always handled my money the “right way.” That is why today I am doing a special “confessions of a financial coach” show. I’m doing this to show you that handling your money well is not some skill that others are born with. Rather it is something you can learn no matter how old you are or how much you make.

Ten confessions of a financial coach:

10-I have bought things or invested in funds because a co-worker or friend said it was a “good idea.” #9-I have believed that there was such a thing as good debt. #8-I have signe [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

My wife Lisa joins me on the show to share our experience in picking a realtor
Why we learned it’s important to get different opinions
How we’ve gotten our home ready to put on the market
What’s next for us in selling our home
Ways to increase your financial literacy during Financial Literacy Month

Today my wife Lisa joins me on the show to help share our experience so far in selling our house. Together we discuss the thought process on how we went about selecting a realtor, what we have learned about getting our house ready to put on the market, and how much we have looked at new homes to buy.

[caption id=”attachment_10211″ align=”alignleft” width=”200″ caption=”Lisa and Jon”]

Highlights of today’s show:

How to avoid the Lifestyle Inflation Trap
What is lifestyle inflation?
How lifestyle inflation can harm your finances
4 keys to raising your lifestyle the right way
Being content with where you are financially

Investopedia defines inflation as, “the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and, subsequently, purchasing power is falling.” We see this in our everyday lives when we compare the price of gas today to the price when we first got our license. Or when we go to the grocery store and look at the price of milk. But on today’s show we discuss the topic of lifestyle inflation and how it can hurt our finances down the road.

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Highlights of today’s show:

The Credit Score lie
The facts about the FICO
What makes up your FICO score
The alternatives to credit scores
What to focus on instead of your credit score

Don’t Be Fooled By The “Build Your Credit Score” Lie! Today’s show is being hijacked by Steve Stewart, my friend and cohort from MoneyPlan SOS. He is passionate about exposing the manipulative messages from those trying to get to your money and the lies that we are told about debt, including building your credit score.

By all measurements, Steve is considered eccentric. His views on debt are not conventional and his view on credit scores make him sound as if he is broadcasting a conspiracy theory. He accepts that misconceived view and hopes [...]

Highlights of today’s show:

Do you have the power to control your finances or is it out of your control?
There’s a growing vocal minority that says that it’s not in your control
Why I believe in personal responsibility when it comes to finances
There are things that are out of your control but you can control how you react to them
The importance of interviewing multiple realtors

We continue where we left off last week in our discussion about behavior and personal finance by trying to answer the question: Do you have the power to control your finances? If you have listened to the podcast for very long, you know that I am a big believer in taking personal respons [...]