Today I answer this listener question:

Hi Joshua,

I am a 22 year old recent college graduate. I have since landed a job and have been working for about 4 months now. Prior to graduating college, I was much less educated on money matters and hardly mindful about my personal finances. Upon graduating, I realized that I knew next to nothing about budgeting, saving, investing, and growing wealth. Additionally, many technical terms and aspects of finance confused me. Since I was going to be getting a “real job” soon and making more money than I ever have before, I decided to self-educate and rid myself of financial ignorance. I began reading books, blogs, watching YouTube videos, and listening to podcasts. I now find myself in a much better position to make sound monetary decisions.

Here is my current situation:
I live at home with my parents rent free.
I am extremely fortunate to have no debt from college.
I have no debt.
I work a full time job and save virtually all of that money. I work a part time job and use that money as my “spending money.”

Essentially, I am blessed to have a blank slate coming out of college.

The downside of my equation is that my full time job does not pay particularly well ~$31,000 a year and I live in an area with a high cost of living (northern VA).

Do you have any advice for someone like me who is just getting started in the real world and wants to begin a path to financial independence?

I do realize that a huge step would be to find a better paying job – I am working on that. However what would you suggest that I do in the meantime to add additional income and begin my journey to FI?

My goal is not to make this all about making more money, but rather to position myself in such a way that I can live life the way that I want. ALSO I want to be in a position where I can easily provide advice and assistance to those who are less well off than I am.

Thank you in advance for any advice that you can provide!

Enjoy!

Joshua

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Today, I answer this question from a listener:

Joshua- Fan of the show and a Naval Officer. I have some questions on overall investing strategy.  I have close to 17 years in the Navy and will likely retire at 20 with a full pension (about $55k/year before taxes), currently have $440k in retirement savings for my wife and I split between Roths and TSP, have over $140k in college savings for my 2 kids (8 and 10 year old, plan on also transferring my GI Bill which will essentially pay for one of their college educations), and have about $30k in taxable accounts.  We are selling our house in Norfolk, VA this year-- been a rental for 5 years but we are moving from Tampa to Jacksonville where I will take Command of a Destroyer there.

So- my question-- I am looking at getting into real estate investing and slowing down retirement savings over the next 5 years (from about $25k/yr to $12k-- maxing out Roths and minimum to TSP).  Curious to hear your take on my overall situation and real estate investing writ large.  Ideally we'd put about $40-50k into things this year-- either buy and hold type rental properties or a flip- and then snowball any earnings plus about $30k annually over the next 4 years until I retire to setup passive income sources.  Thanks!

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Listener Allyn writes in with this question: "What are your thoughts on using whole life insurance as a college savings plan? If you don't like it, why?"

My thoughts are in the show!

Joshua

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Do you feel richer today than you did yesterday? If not, why not?

Joshua

• Daily by Seth Godin
• How to Get Richer Every Day by Mark Morgan Ford

Different people learn in different ways. For that reason, we need many new approaches to helping people learn about financial independence.

I'm glad to bring my new friends Jonathan and Brad on the show to talk about their project ChooseFI.com.

Operating under the banner "Experiments in Financial Independence," they're seeking to create a new approach to learning and teaching about financial independence.

Enjoy the interview!

Joshua

• www.ChooseFI.Com
• www.TravelMiles101.com
• Find a great financial advisor! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/paladin
• Use the same budget software I use! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/YNAB
• Support RPF on Patreon: www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

It's Friday! That means a live Q&A show. Today we tackle:

• Should I Get Rid of my 3rd Car?
• What is a Modified Endowment Contract and How Does it Work?
• What Should We Do With All This Extra Money our Church Just Received?

If you'd like to join a show like this and ask your question, sign up to become a Patron! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

Joshua

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• Connect with us on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RadicalPersonalFinance or in the Facebook Community Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/RadicalPersonalFinance/

Today, I bring you an interview with the #1 most requested guest! Mr. Money Mustache himself.

I connected with him while up in Gainesville for Camp Mustache a couple of weeks ago.

This interview isn't about the nuts and bolts of Mustachian philosophy or on how to become financially independent in a few short years; those topics have been well covered elsewhere.

This interview is about his current life, current projects, and things he's excited about at the moment.

Enjoy!

Joshua

• Try Hello Fresh! Get $35 off your first order at www.HelloFresh.com with promo code RPF.
• Support RPF on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

Every day I mention that little slogan, "financial freedom in 10 years or less" in my intro. It's an aggressive, spicy little slogan. But I probably don't do a good enough job of highlighting what that phrase actually means and how many different ways it can be achieved.

Today I have a really fun profile of someone who has successfully achieved financial freedom in less than 10 years by capitalizing on AirBnB. And doing it with properties that she didn't even own!

Enjoy hearing Zeona McIntyre's story of financial freedom!

Joshua

• Zeona's website: https://www.zeonamcintyre.com/
• Start your search for a financial advisor here: www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/paladin
• Try a free 34-day trial of the YNAB budgeting software! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/YNAB
• Support me directly on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron