Careers and Cash Flow

205 - What's Up?: A look at what's next and what's on the chopping block

Consider this a behind the scenes (mic) episode. We're in the middle of a transition and want you know what's happening. For more, connect with Dalan below.   Social media (@dalanvanterpool) and web links: Twitter: twitter.com/dalanvanterpool Instagram: instagram.com/dalanvanterpool Facebook: facebook.com/dalanvanterpool LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dalanvanterpool Website: dalanvanterpool.com       

204 - 2021 Update!

Hello 2021!  So many great things to share. I'm technically not supposed to be on the mic so please listen to this before someone on the team tries to take it down. Haha   I'm sneaking in here with a quick update on what's been going on behind the scenes, with special peek at the new book that's dropping...soon. Also for anyone who ever thought about attempting something that seemed impossible, I've got some useful reflections from the book writing process for you.   We appreciate yo...

203 - Gone for November...and maybe December

Hi there! I’ll admit today’s episode is a bit odd. It’s more of an update really, with a power tip at the end. We’re taking a step back to make several steps forward.   For the month of November we’ll hit pause with two main objectives, amongst a list of other tasks. First up is wrapping up the book project, “No Boss, Only Clients”… unless a different title suddenly rises like hot bread on a rainy day. Second, we’ll be catching up on the back log of guests who want to be featured on the ...

202 - Work Responsibly - Don't Die On Your Day Job

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program for this important message about you.   In this uncut straight talk episode, Dalan drops some heavy truths about the relationship you have with your job. Many people let what happens at the office seep into their subconscious and inform their ability to add value to the world outside that corporate structure. News flash: YOU ARE MORE.    Learn how to recalibrate the interaction between your career and mission. More on the inside so tune in...

201 - How a Cash Flow Statement Actually Works

Today we continue our breakdown on financial statement essentials, looking at how a Cash Flow Statement actually works. Understanding this statement will enable you to pose more insightful questions about a company’s performance and avoid being fooled by flashy numbers like sales and net income.    The golden question: What happened to cash?     If you have specific questions send them to [email protected] or hit us on the socials so we can answer them in a follow-up epi...

200 - How an Income Statement Actually Works

Today we continue our breakdown on financial statement essentials, looking at how an income statement actually works. Yes, at the most basic level, it’s Revenue minus Expenses, but we will show you some nuances that can help you get a better understanding of what’s happening in a company.   Hint: There are many answers to the question, “How much money did they make?”.    If you have specific questions send them to [email protected] or hit us on the socials so we can answer...

199 - How A Balance Sheet Actually Works

Time to geek out! If you want to master money you need to gain a certain level of comfort with numbers and financial information. Over the next few episodes, we will teach you the basics of how to understand the main financial statements.   This is useful when making investment decisions and managing your personal finances. Today’s lesson covers the balance sheet and the main accounting equation:   ASSETS = LIABILITIES + EQUITY   If you have specific questions send them to hello@...

198 - 10 Sources for Financial Information

The number of sources spewing good and not so good financial information can be overwhelming. On this episode, we will show you 10+ sources where you can find useful information for your personal finance and investing decisions.      Essential financial education for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanvanterpool.com/podcast   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @c...

197 - Define Your Rich

In today’s episode we step back and look at what we are really trying to accomplish. This answer will be different for each person so it’s important to let your definition guide you. What’s your finish line?       Essential financial education for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanvanterpool.com/podcast   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @careersandCF www.tw...

196 - Hot Take On The Forex Fad

If you’ve spent any time on the internet recently there’s a good chance you’ve been hit by 1 or 1,000 ads asking you to join a Forex (foreign exchange) trading scheme as the latest way to get rich quickly. Not surprisingly, these promotions spiked during the current pandemic while many people are stuck at home, desperate for a way to make money.   Today we keep it quick and dirty with a hot take on whether these schemes are legitimate and how likely you are to become wealthy by joining t...

195 - How Dividends Actually Work

On this episode, we explain the way dividends work including how you can use them to start building passive (automated) income. We start by debunking some common misunderstandings about stocks and dividends.   Following that, you will learn the four key dates to know for navigating dividends. To wrap up, we discuss three dividend types including one you may not think of immediately.   Essential financial education for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other re...

194 - How Stock Splits Work

Stock splits are a relatively common action companies take where the trading price of the stock is divided and shareholders receive additional shares. The total value of the shares remains the same, but the price and number of shares outstanding change.    At the time of this recording in August 2020, some big-name companies such as Apple and Tesla are less than two weeks away from executing stock splits. In this episode, we explain how it works and what you need to consider in deciding ...

193 - Seeking adult pay for baby behaviour

If you ever have the chance to observe a baby grow over an extended period of time, you may start to identify some of the same behaviours you see in your adult self or other adults. Today we look at five baby behaviours that are hindering your career and financial goals. Time to grow up!     Essential financial education for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanvanterpool.com/podcast   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv w...

192 - How to invest in funds

Do you just save money or invest it as well? If you’re only saving, then chances are you’re quietly losing money.  As a rough example, if your saving account is paying 1% interest, but inflation is growing at 3%, then you are effectively losing 2% each year. For this reason, money-minded people invest a portion of their money to keep up with and hopefully beat the effect of inflation. Essential financial education for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resour...

191 - Stock Market vs. Stock Index

Taking your financial status to a new level can feel a lot like moving to a foreign country. You will find that people have different habits here and speak a different language. Let’s start working on crucial vocabulary so you can navigate the financial streets like a boss!   Today we explore the difference between a stock market and a stock index. Next week, we look at how you can tap into these to start earning income and value.   Essential financial education for ambitious young ...

190 - Own A Home? (Part 6): Legal Points to Consider

Welcome to the 6th and final (for now at least) part of the Own A Home? series. So far we have covered why this conversation even matters, whether you should buy, build or keep renting, how to get a bank loan approved, working with real estate agents and much more.    Here in part 6, we jump into some legal considerations around different ways to structure the deal.    Should you own the property in your name or place it as an asset inside a company or other structure? If you buying ...

189 - Own A Home? (Part 5): Kathleen Vega - How to choose the right property for you

On part 5 of the Own A Home? series we bring you the inside secrets to working with a real estate agent to choose the right property for you. Our guest today is Kathleen Vega (full bio here), a real estate agent serving clients in Panamá.      On the inside: Learn how to spot red flags and choose a good agent.  Get an agent's perspective on how close a winning deal.  What to look for when she process and understand. Understand how to navigate a home-buying fair/convention What can...

188 - Evolution: Focus The Fire is moving

New Name?    Focus The Fire podcast has been a fun, evolving project over the past 4 years. Now with more clarity, we are refocusing and making adjustments to help our name and branding line up with the content. We want to help professionals like you connect your career moves with your wealth goals.    In this special episode, Dalan gives you the story behind the 2020 rebranding to Careers and Cash Flow and what you can expect from the “new” show.    Essential financial advice fo...

187 - Own A Home? (Part 4): How to Save Money For a House

Before we can seriously talk about investing, let’s get your finances under control with 10 easy ways to save money. Working in accounting and banking for the past 10 years, you get to see the range of ways people manage to make and lose money.  This episode is a brief summary of the top things to avoid and rules to follow. If you have any questions or suggestions drop a comment below or connect on twitter.   Question of the day: What’s the most money you have ever been able to save?  ...

186 - Own A Home? (Part 3)

185 - Own A Home? (Part 2): Rent or Own?

In part 2 of the Own A Home? series we dive into the decision to rent or own. There isn’t always a simple right answer to this question. In this discussion, we explore the pros, cons and other considerations you should weigh when deciding whether you should keep renting or buy/build a home.     Question of the day: Do believe it’s better to rent or own?   Essential financial advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanv...

184 - Own A Home? (Part 1)

Owning your first house can be a challenging and intimidating idea for young professionals. In this series, we walk you through the process from mindset to closing the deal, with insights from bankers, builders and real estate agents.   Making this first move correctly can trigger the start of a building serious real estate wealth and a set of assets that produce money for generations in your family.   If you have specific questions about homeownership send them to dalan@focusthefire...

183 - Equality, Not Pity

Today we hit pause on the usual conversation to amplify a pressing message that is rocking countries around the world. For centuries unjust practices around racism and colonialism have allowed empires to be built on the backs of oppressed people. The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and countless others in the United States have boiled to the point of global protests.    Problems of police brutality, income inequality and racism are certainly not unique to t...

182 - Put in the reps

How do you rapidly increase your ability to deliver excellent work and get enough traction to earn the attention of the people who need to notice?    You can spend loads of time thinking, studying, planning and theorising about the best practices, or you can start producing. The tough part is accepting that all the work you produce especially in the early stages will not be your best. It may not match up to the other masters of the craft that you admire. You may not be 100% proud but to ...

181 - Believe Again

This is an important message for everyone at risk of losing hope in their dreams. If you’re frustrated with the pace of progress and wondering if the success you long for will ever become real, take a few minutes and listen to this message.     Question of the day: What are you believing for? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanvanterpool.com/podcast   Connect...

180 - How Look and Sound Professional on a Video Call

In case it’s not obvious yet, remote work and online meetings are now a larger part of doing business. The extent of this may very well reduce when(ever) things calm down, but right now video calls via platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx and others are connecting the world. Today we teach you how to avoid some huge fails and present yourself better than the average person online.   Dress like a professional - Let the context of the meeting dictate or a...

179 - Denise Liebetrau: How to Negotiate Your Salary Like a Pro

Let’s talk about why you’re still underpaid and how to negotiate pay and benefits to earn your worth.    Are you being paid what you’re worth? Have you thought about asking for more but the idea of that awkward conversation makes you scared or nervous? If you want to learn how smart executives negotiate better compensation you need to listen to these tactics from Denise Liebetrau.    She explains how negotiating for more rewards is so much wider than a single conversation, and gives ...

178 - 3 Reasons to Invest

When it comes to investing, you need to be clear on your goals for each dollar. Before you put a dollar to work, determine the job description. This is the only way you can really assess whether it doing what you want it to do correctly.    In investment banking, the first conversation with a client usually involves some form of the question: What are your objectives? To put it another way, what goals are you trying to accomplish here and what’s your timeline / investment horizon?   ...

177 - Pros and Problems of Working From Home

Are you working remotely? The current state of affairs in the world has many office goers figuring out the fun and follies of working remotely. As much as people complain about Mondays, traffic and annoying coworkers, it’s interesting to note the mixed reviews around this new found freedom.    Today we discuss the quirks for working from home and reflect on a related article from Bloomberg describing the plight of people trying to preserve boundaries between work life and personal life. ...

176 - How to Behave in the Office

You’ve seen or heard it before. Some colleague in the office starts reading self-development books and too many fake deep quotes on instagram about living life on your own terms and being an entrepreneur versus a lame employee. They may even listen to podcasts like this and take things slightly out of context. Yea…don’t be that person in the office.    Today let’s do some house keeping about how you can share your enthusiasm and enlightenment, without disrespecting the choices others mak...

175 - 20 Ways to Maximize Social Distance Time (Part 4)

With COVID-19 gripping the world, many countries are ordering voluntary and in some cases involuntary home quarantine to slow the spread of the virus. This extreme social distancing creates many new challenges for economies, businesses, school and people. It also opens up excellent opportunities for people who leverage the time wisely. Some persons are complaining about being bored, but starting today and into the following weeks we are giving you 20 ways to maximise social distance time and...

174 - 20 Ways to Maximize Social Distance Time (Part 3)

With COVID-19 gripping the world, many countries are ordering voluntary and in some cases involuntary home quarantine to slow the spread of the virus. This extreme social distancing creates many new challenges for economies, businesses, school and people. It also opens up excellent opportunities for people who leverage the time wisely. Some persons are complaining about being bored, but starting today and into the following weeks we are giving you 20 ways to maximise social distance time and...

173 - 20 Ways to Maximize Social Distance Time (Part 2)

With COVID-19 gripping the world, many countries are ordering voluntary and in some cases involuntary home quarantine to slow the spread of the virus. This extreme social distancing creates many new challenges for economies, businesses, school and people. It also opens up excellent opportunities for people who leverage the time wisely. Some persons are complaining about being bored, but starting today and into the following weeks we are giving you 20 ways to maximise social distance time and...

172 - 20 Ways to Maximize Social Distance Time (Part 1)

With COVID-19 gripping the world, many countries are ordering voluntary and in some cases involuntary home quarantine to slow the spread of the virus. This extreme social distancing creates many new challenges for economies, businesses, school and people. It also opens up excellent opportunities for people who leverage the time wisely. Some persons are complaining about being bored, but starting today and into the following weeks we are giving you 20 ways to maximise social distance time and...

171 - Brenda Bernstein: Create A Killer LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is one of the most powerful yet under used career networking tools available. You get free access to tools and features that can jump start new relationships, build a brand, and help you land that next big job.    To help you get the most out of LinkedIn we called in the expert who literally wrote the book on How to Write a Killer LinkedIn profile. Brenda Bernstein is on the mic telling us how she went from Sesame Street, to Yale, to building a business around helping smart exec...

170 - International Women’s Day Salute

  It’s no secret that women have been making a serious impact inside and outside the corporate world for centuries. Fortunately, it seems the value of this work is starting to get the recognition, and hopefully compensation it deserves. We’ve been celebrating women on Focus The Fire for many years by making space to share their brilliant stories with the world. Today in honour of International Women’s Day, we flashback to one of those moments featuring Jamila Abston, CPA, partner at EY and...

169 - The Bitter Price of Focus

  How do people “suddenly” accomplish great things? Sometimes it seems like they pop up out of nowhere with recorded albums, a thriving business, international awards, powerful careers and even published books. Do they possess some superior intelligence not accessible to the rest of us? Do they have more hours in a day or significantly less responsibilities jostling for their attention?   In most cases I believe the answer is no, or at least they actively make the answer a no. Let me e...

168 - Negotiate Your Compensation, Not Salary

Let’s be brutally honest here. Besides the fluffy talk about fulfilling dreams and helping humanity, you’re working because you want to get paid. That may not be the only reason, but it’s a crucial component otherwise you would be running around hunting for a full-time volunteer position. People will keep showing up at a job for years even though their personal or professional aspirations aren’t being fed, but let the money stop and see how quickly things escalate.   But wait a minute, i...

167 - Take Your Best Self to Work

So yes, there’s your job description or whatever. It’s important to hit those points. However, just meeting expectations is a slow path to success. There are skills and talents inside you that just need a little courage and creativity to help you leverage them for career success.    You can spend years competing with people on their own terms, or go around them quietly by creating your own lane. Activate your zone of greatness and use it to add value to the organisation. In today’s episo...

166 - Interest Rate Basics

In the game of money, interested rates rule the field. A weak understanding can make you lose big or miss huge opportunities.  A great career is even better when you can take the money you earn and know how to make it work for you.   Today we take you through some common interest concepts that you will encounter when buying a car, a house, investing, or even choosing a bank account.     We included a useful article on annual percentage rates at the show notes page: dalanv.com/166-int...

165 - 5 Common Investment Fees To Know

So you’re working hard to build that career and earn money to pay for things that matter to you. School, food, vacation, family expenses, healthcare, potato salad, etc. Today we’re giving you 5 common fees to understand when you decide to put that money to work by investing.    5 Common Investment Fees To Know   Management fee Performance fee Early exit fee Account management fee Transaction fee  These fees go by different names so pay attention to how they work. Also I’m not...

164 - Sending The Right Career Signals

A big part of get a high level position in a company is proving your commitment to the organisation’s long term objectives. Young ambitious professionals often lack the perspective of being the boss who has to decide whether they should take a risk on someone with a promotion or salary increase.    In their head, they are weighing whether you will be around adding value for a long time, or if they will have to go through this process with someone else in a year after you get the first bo...

163 - Kanika Tolver: How To Rehab Your Career

Successful careers are built on manual control rather than autopilot. Your ability to recognise when things need attention and make the right adjustments is crucial to building a meaningful career with more time, money and freedom. Today’s guest, Kanika Tolver, specialises in helping professionals repair, or as she would say, “rehab” their careers. If you’re looking to advance in your industry or make a transition this conversation is for you.    Who is Kanika Tolver?   Kanika is a h...

162 - $100 Action Each Day

There are some mental barriers that keep smart professionals from breaking the mould and generating income outside their traditional salary. On this episode of Focus The Fire:  Some of the most common challenges to generating secondary income How to overcome those challenges How to start earning at least $100 per day outside your main job     Question of the day: What’s your $100 thing?  (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.  ...

162 - $100 Each Day

There are some mental barriers that keep smart professionals from breaking the mould and generating income outside their traditional salary. On this episode of Focus The Fire:  Some of the most common challenges to generating secondary income How to overcome those challenges How to start earning at least $100 per day outside your main job     Question of the day: What’s your $100 thing?  (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.  ...

161 - No More Small Talk

Last year I realised that I wasn’t thinking big enough in many areas. To be clear, I really thought I was thinking big, but that wasn’t reflected in many areas of my life, career and business. You see it’s no enough just to have big dreams. We have to match those desires with an operational framework that can sustain that growth.    Being exposed to different client negotiations over the year has been extremely useful in learning how people react to price and perceived value. With those ...

160 - 5 Things to do in 2020

What a year! As 2019 comes to a close we spent some time reflecting on the best practices to increase your chances of massive success in 2020. Here are 5 crucial things to do in 2020. What else would you add?   Stop self-rejecting Take more action Learn while doing Keep good energy Give yourself permission to be a beginner      Question of the day:  What changes are you making in 2020 to boost your career? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious ...

159 - Finding Your Side Hustle

The first step to building your side hustle is figuring out what you will offer the market. Today we explore two strategies to help you generate ideas and choose one or two areas to focus.    Strategy 1 Make a list of skills or other things you can use to generate additional income. Separate them into three groups as follows:   Things you can do/monetise right now Things you can improve or build, then monetise Things you can learn how to do    Strategy 2 Look at what tasks an...

158 - How to Win in 2020

Reflecting on the things that really made a positive difference this year, I realised that it kept coming back to the same theme: Overcome self-doubt and do things you never did before.   On this episode I share the back story how I ended up presenting my first career training webinar a in December 2019.    Question of the day: What have you been talking yourself out of doing?  (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full ...

157 - 6 Tips For Networking with High Level Executives

Growing your career at faster than the average pace requires building relationships with decision makers. These people can be a catalyst to your progress and get you seats at tables that would otherwise be inaccessible. In this episode we provide you six practical tips for networking with high level executives. How do you get connected with powerful people?    Research their interests. Lead with value. Save time, make money, build a bridge.  Secretaries and personal assistants  are the ...