23. Living Young and Scrappy with Michelle Waymire
Sheepdog Financial
English - December 04, 2019 08:00 - 32 minutes - 30.3 MB - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsInvesting Business investing finance personalfinance passiveincome wealth valuestocks stockmarket business money equity Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
The sooner you start getting informed about your finances and actively planning your earning, spending and investing the more wealth you can accumulate. I have Michelle Waymire on the show today. Michelle is a Certified Financial Planner and the creator of Young & Scrappy a specialty practice geared towards investing for younger people. She is also the host of the Young & Scrappy Money podcast a weekly podcast featuring tips and tricks to take control of your finances.
Michelle takes a unique approach to many financial practices. She shares what a money squad is and how valuable it is to have a group of experts to help with decisions, especially for people who move frequently like military families. Michelle shares how she feels about real estate investing within a self-directed IRA and the importance of diversity. We also talk about things to ask before becoming a landlord. She shares her technique to make budgeting and keeping spending under control effortless. We also talk about a sinking fund, financial freedom, and Michelle gives her one best piece of advice that really applies to everyone.
Highlights from Episode 23
[01:06] Michelle lives in the suburbs of Atlanta which creates more room for her dogs.
[02:04] A money squad are the people in your life that help you keep your finances together. These are people like your CPA, bookkeeper, estate planning attorney, financial adviser, financial planner, and anyone else who is a good financial influence.
[03:17] Having a money squad is important for military people, especially when they move around a lot.
[05:29] Having a rental property depends on your personality, goals, and finding help for the management. It also depends on where you live and possibility for positive cash flow.
[08:32] Michelle doesn't recommend using IRAs to invest in real estate. It can be tricky and have tax consequences. There are ETFs and REITs for investing in real estate with diversification.
[12:16] For Michelle, budgeting is a time to build an aspirational spreadsheet. She tracks what's coming in, predictable expenses, savings goals, and what's left over to spend. She decides in advance how much to spend on the fun stuff based on what is spent on the necessary stuff.
[13:42] She divides her overall spending bucket into a weekly amount and gives herself an old school weekly allowance.
[14:28] She puts her spending money in a separate checking account, so she always knows how much she can spend without having to do any work.
[16:22] Michelle's family has semi-combined expenses. It's a separate joint bank account where they each pay the same amount on the first of the month. Shared expenses come from this account.
[17:20] You have complete freedom when creating a joint or separate system with a partner or spouse. Find out how much you want to combine and if you are both on the same page.
[18:57] There's usually a savings component to your budget. Have an area to pull money from if you go over your budget.
[20:30] Consistent overspending is a good opportunity to take a look at your budget and see if it's realistic.
[21:21] A sinking fund is for large and unpredictable recurring expenses. List what's problematic and how much it costs. Divide that money by 12 and transfer it into a savings account.
[23:16] Start with a $1000 emergency fund. A full emergency fund is anywhere from 3 to 6 months expenses.
[26:05] Financial freedom equates to choice and having the options to do what you want in this world.
[27:52] People with heavy student debt need to know that they aren't alone. Don't hide from it. There are options, but you need to do your homework.
[29:29] You can get information about your private student loan on your credit report.
[30:30] Michelle's one best piece of advice is to not ignore your finances. Don’t wait.
Links and Resources
The Young & Scrappy Money Podcast