Better Off BONUS call 021 - Career Change

It's so great and satisfying when we're able to expose people to the world of finance through the podcast. That's the case with Joe from Arizona, our latest BONUS call, who after listening to us, is now interested in pursuing a career as a CFP.

It’s so great and satisfying when we’re able to expose people to the world of finance through the podcast. That’s the case with Joe from Arizona, our latest BONUS call, who after listening to us, is now interested in pursuing a career as a CFP. Since Joe doesn’t have a background in finance he was looking for some advice as he prepares to start this new chapter of his professional life.

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Ep. 027 - Summer Travel Tips with Peter Greenberg

Summertime is officially upon us which means millions of Americans will be hitting the roads and taking to the skies to enjoy their summer vacations. Whether you want to hit the beach, blaze a trail off the beaten path or explore one of the major tourist destinations, there's a smart way to do it.

Summertime is officially upon us which means millions of Americans will be hitting the roads and taking to the skies to enjoy their summer vacations. Whether you want to hit the beach, blaze a trail off the beaten path or explore one of the major tourist destinations, there’s a smart way to do it.  That’s where Peter Greenberg, this week’s guest on Better Off, enters the picture.

Peter, the Travel Editor for CBS News, is full of tips and suggestions to help you get the most bang for your buck as you plan and book your trip.

Where to go? Where not to go? Drive, train or fly? From South Africa to Chile to Tokyo and Thailand, as well as hidden gems here in the States, we circle the globe with Peter and provide you with useful tips to easily reach your destination, with a few bucks left in your pocket.

Give recent attacks in London, Paris and Istanbul, is there any reason to think twice before booking vacations to those cities? How should we think about places where the Zika virus remains prevalent? What’s on Peter’s “Do Not Visit List?”

This one may be hard to believe, but despite all the travel related websites out there, Peter insists that even in 2017, the best thing to do is to pick up the phone and have an actual conversation with the airline or hotel.  But it’s not just a conversation for the sake of having one.  There’s a way to do it and certain questions to ask.  It’s a process.  So much so, that we did a little role playing to help guide you guys through it!

If you’re a frequent traveler, Peter is definitely someone to follow on Twitter.

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Better Off BONUS call 020 - Retirement Planning

This week on the BONUS call I had to pick a side. I was either going to side with our caller, Dustin from Minnesota, or his wife. Only in their 30s, these guys are in great shape. They already have a good nest egg going and are able to save a solid amount each year.

This week on the BONUS call I had to pick a side. I was either going to side with our caller, Dustin from Minnesota, or his wife. Only in their 30s, these guys are in great shape. They already have a good nest egg going and are able to save a solid amount each year.

Dustin is all about contributing to their retirement accounts. His wife on the other hand thinks they should pull back on the retirement accounts and beef up their liquid assets. Have a guess as to which way I’m leaning?

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Ep. 026 - Personal Finance 101 with Liz Weston

While it's always fun talking to authors, CEOs and you on the Better Off podcast, I also enjoy chatting with fellow financial industry journalism colleagues. Doing so allows me to get their take on the state of the industry and to talk about what they've been covering, what has them jazzed and what they see coming in the weeks and months ahead.

While it’s always fun talking to authors, CEOs and you on the Better Off podcast, I also enjoy chatting with fellow financial industry journalism colleagues. Doing so allows me to get their take on the state of the industry and to talk about what they’ve been covering, what has them jazzed and what they see coming in the weeks and months ahead.

Our guest this week, Liz Weston, is a total financial nerd, so I guess it’s fitting that Liz works as a columnist for NerdWallet, a personal finance website that offers financial tools and advice to help people understand their options when making financial decisions.

Liz is also a CFP® and has been covering the industry for many years. She started her career on the politics beat but that got old quickly. She transitioned into personal finance and has been writing full-time since 1994.

Even though Liz knows her stuff, it was very interesting to hear her talk about how she has used an insurance agent, a tax pro, an estate planner and even has her own financial planner. I’m the same way…even though we are professionals within the industry, qualified experts can help you save time, money or ideally, both!

Some of the other topics we discussed include:

• The decreasing role of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• The student loan crisis and possible ways to fix it
• Whether or not social security will be around for millennials

If you follow me on Twitter then you know I’m a big fan of the content Liz continues to crank out. She’s definitely worth a follow for top notch personal finance insight.

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Better Off BONUS call 019 - 401(k)

We love starting them young on Better Off, and that's certainly the case with Kevin from Maryland, our latest BONUS call. Kevin, just 23 years old, want's to make sure he has all his finances in order before starting medical school later this summer.

We love starting them young on Better Off, and that’s certainly the case with Kevin from Maryland, our latest BONUS call.

Kevin, just 23 years old, want’s to make sure he has all his finances in order before starting medical school later this summer. His main question is what he should do with an old 401(k) plan. What criteria should he consider before rolling it over? Can he do it on his own or does he need a financial planner? All very good and common questions that will likely apply to some of you listening.

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Ep. 025 - Why Wall Street Matters with William Cohan

Imagine a world without companies like Apple, or media outlets such as CBS or NBC, without all of the cars and trucks crisscrossing the country, without food provided by the farmer...that's what would happen if Wall Street did not exist...it would all go away, according to this week's Better Off guest, writer William "Bill" Cohan.

Imagine a world without companies like Apple, or media outlets such as CBS or NBC, without all of the cars and trucks crisscrossing the country, without food provided by the farmer…that’s what would happen if Wall Street did not exist…it would all go away, according to this week’s Better Off guest, writer William “Bill” Cohan.

If you’ve read some of his previous books, like “House of Cards,” or “Money and Power”, you know Bill is usually not one to shy away from going after Wall Street and its shortcomings. But in an interesting twist, Bill’s recent book, “Why Wall Street Matters,” is a defense of the industry that he has pilloried.

In our interview, Bill describes a poor decision by Elizabeth Warren as the catalyst that propelled him to write this latest book. He tells us what Wall Street has done well, like providing the necessary capital to companies, which in turn allows them to invest, expand and hire, thus propelling overall economic growth.

Don’t be mistaken: Bill knows that Wall Street and the institutions that occupy the space in Lower Manhattan are imperfect, but he believes that there is far more good than bad — and more importantly, the consequences would be dire if the essential role the industry plays were carelessly curtailed.

Bill had one goal when writing this book: for Wall Street to become understandable to the average American. In this easy to read book, Bill succeeded.  I highly recommend you pick it up.

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Better Off BONUS call 018 - Retirement Planning

This week we have one of the more interesting BONUS calls that we've taken on Better Off. You know, life isn't always as we plan it...it's not always a simple, straight line. Things come up, especially health related items that can make it difficult when doing a financial plan.

This week we have one of the more interesting BONUS calls that we’ve taken on Better Off. You know, life isn’t always as we plan it…it’s not always a simple, straight line. Things come up, especially health related items that can make it difficult when doing a financial plan. Mike from Tennessee falls into this category. Given some recent poor test scores, and the fact that his father died of a heart attack at 59, Mike, currently 49, wants to retire early. The good news is that Mike and his wife have a nest egg of about $2.5 million. Given that Mike is asymptomatic, we hope he lives a long life and is able to reap the rewards in retirement.

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Ep. 024 - Cybersecurity and Hacking with Kevin Mitnick

It seems everyday there's a story in the news that involves hacking. Whether it's a big box retailer, the IRS or Russians hacking the DNC, cyber warfare has become one of the biggest threats in the 21st century and we are all vulnerable.

It seems everyday there’s a story in the news that involves hacking.  Whether it’s a big box retailer, the IRS or Russians hacking the DNC, cyber warfare has become one of the biggest threats in the 21st century and we are all vulnerable.

To help you understand the current environment and to learn some of the simple steps we should take to prevent ourselves from becoming a victim, we had to find an expert…a professional hacker. I’m not talking about some random hack…I’m talking about the hacker of all hackers, Kevin Mitnick.  This guy is the real deal.  So real that after a well publicized pursuit back in the 1990s, he was arrested by the FBI and spent five years in prison, including eight months in solitary confinement.

Now a free man, he does consulting work for Fortune 500 companies and the government. Though I should point out that for business cards he uses metal lock pick sets with his name and number on them. Really. In his latest book, The Art of Invisibility, Kevin uses true-life stories to show exactly what is happening without your knowledge, teaching you online and real-world tactics to protect you and your family, with step-by-step instructions. After reading this book you will learn everything from password protection and smart Wi-Fi usage to advanced techniques designed to maximize your anonymity.

Despite what we’d all like to believe, our passwords really can be stolen, our data sold and our personal emails read.  After listening to this interview, check out the book and learn the simple steps to help prevent it from happening to you.  

A big-time presence in the social media world, you call follow Kevin on Twitter for updates and tips from the cybersecurity world.  

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Better Off BONUS call 017 - Side Hustle

Summer is just about upon us which means all those hardworking teachers out there will get a well deserved break. That includes our BONUS caller this week, James from Illinois. What's different about James is that he doesn't necessarily want to take the whole summer off...he actually wants to find a side gig to make some extra cash.

Summer is just about upon us which means all those hardworking teachers out there will get a well deserved break. That includes our BONUS caller this week, James from Illinois. What’s different about James is that he doesn’t necessarily want to take the whole summer off…he actually wants to find a side gig to make some extra cash. Because he lives in a rural area he’s not quite sure how to make it happen so he decided to call us for some advice.

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Ep. 023 - Behavioral Economics with Michael Lewis

Sometimes a host has to do what a host has to do to land the interview. You could say that was the case with the one and only Michael Lewis, our guest this week on Better Off.

Sometimes a host has to do what a host has to do to land the interview.  You could say that was the case with the one and only Michael Lewis, our guest this week on Better Off.  

It was a few months back that I ran into Michael in the CBS This Morning Green Room and immediately started working my mojo to get him on the podcast.  Although it took weeks and weeks of emails to finally make it happen, it was worth the wait.

Lewis is such a prolific writer that you’ve probably picked up at least one of his books, including Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short or Flash Boys. In this interview, we discuss his latest work, The Undoing Project.  

The Undoing Project explores the roots of behavioral economics, a topic that has always fascinated me. I love trying to understand why people make the decisions they do.  Trying to figure out how the human mind works.  And that’s what this book is all about.  

It’s starts with the partnership between Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky.  Forty years ago, the pair wrote a series of original studies questioning our assumptions about the decision-making process. Their papers showed the ways in which the human mind systematically erred, when forced to make judgments in uncertain situations. Their work created the field of behavioral economics, revolutionized Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine and led to a new approach to government regulation.

We also touched on many other topics including the financial industry, the current political climate and what he plans to work on next. Which means you’ll likely hear Michael again on this podcast sometime down the road…hopefully I won’t have to tackle him again in the Green Room!

“Better Off” is sponsored by Betterment.

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