Episodes
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
67 - Nico Barawid
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
Nico Barawid wants you to know that personal finance is very different for immigrants.
And it’s even harder if you’re an immigrant who is also a woman or person of colour, like Nico’s Mom.
Nico came to the US from the Philippines with his parents when he was very young.
Despite the fact that they were both medical residents and eventually doctors in the US, Nico’s parents faced a lot of financial discrimination because of their lack of credit history.
And the worst part about this is that it isn’t that they lack credit history entirely, it’s that they didn’t have credit history in the US. They had student loans and credit cards in the Philippines before they left.
So why wouldn’t that credit history count in the US? Good question. It’s because the credit evaluation process is broken. For as long as financial institutions have been around, no one has ever thought to connect the global credit reporting systems in a meaningful way. And all of the local systems are different so good credit in the Philippines means nothing to US banks.
So when the 3 founders of a new company called Nova Credit were looking for their first employee, Nico jumped at the opportunity to help fix this broken system.
Nico is now working with banks and credit bureaus around the world, connecting them one at a time so that one day, immigrants with good credit will be able to bring that credit to the US and Canada, and not have to go through what Nico’s parents went through.
I’m very happy that Nico is doing this and that he joined me from the San Francisco Bay Area to tell his family’s personal finance story.
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Thursday Jan 24, 2019
66 - Jackie Lam
Thursday Jan 24, 2019
Thursday Jan 24, 2019
Jackie Lam wants you to be proud of being frugal.
Frugal doesn’t mean cheap.
There was a time when Jackie needed to be frugal because she had no choice.
But today, for her and many others, being frugal is really about making sure that her spending behaviour aligns with her values.
It’s about making money decisions that help you live your best life.
But for many years, Jackie was shamed for her frugality. Whether it is actually a symptom of living in poverty or a value choice, many people still judge frugality and praise free spending.
So imagine the validation when Jackie gets to college and meets other frugal minded individuals like her. Finding frugal friends that celebrated their frugality inspired Jackie to create a blog in 2009 called Cheapsters, which morphed into HeyFreelancer.com, her site about keeping your money in check so you can do what you love.
Jackie joined me from Los Angeles to share her personal finance story.
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Thursday Jan 17, 2019
65 - Damion Lupo
Thursday Jan 17, 2019
Thursday Jan 17, 2019
Damion Lupo wants you to ask yourself: How can I serve and contribute to others in a deep and meaningful way?
If you’re just chasing dollars without meaning, you could end up rich if you’re lucky, but even if you are one of the lucky ones who makes millions, there’s a good chance you’re going to be miserable.
Damion’s been there. He made millions and then lost it all. And he wasn’t able to get back on track until he found meaning and truth and focused on that instead of just making money.
After going through this experience he and a friend wrote a book called Reinvented Life. Reinvented Life is a process and methodology for stepping into the life you are supposed to be living versus the one you are living today.
Personally, I think we should make it a habit of stepping back from our lives and asking: is what I’m doing adding value to the world? Is what I’m doing fulfilling? Am I making a difference in any way other than lining my pockets?
The most important thing to me is that you’re living the life that you want and that you chose, rather than just following a path or a checklist made up by someone who has no idea what is best for you.
Damion shifted from helping himself get richer to helping others have the life they always wanted. Here is his personal finance story.
(To get the free Reinvented Life workbook head to: http://reinvention.net/)
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Friday Jan 11, 2019
64 - Melissa Leong
Friday Jan 11, 2019
Friday Jan 11, 2019
Melissa Leong wants you to spend smart, save right and enjoy life.
Those are the words on the cover of her new book Happy Go Money, which was just released this week!
Melissa is a personal finance writer, on-air personality, speaker and bestselling author.
You might be thinking, Beau, you can’t say bestselling author if Melissa’s first book just came out.
Well we didn’t talk about this in the interview but Melissa is already a bestselling author. Her self-published paranormal adventure novels, What Kills Me and I Am Forever, written under the pen name Wynne Channing, have sold almost 70,000 copies and soared to #1 on a number of bestseller lists on Amazon.
Melissa is funny and mindful and really just wants to help you manage your money while maximizing your happiness.
Melissa invited me to her home where I got to meet her family, have some snacks and talk about her personal finance story.