363: Finance Friday: Savings Stuck At Zero? Here’s How to Grow Your Bank Account
BiggerPockets Money Podcast
BiggerPockets
4.6 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 16 December 2022
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Once you know how to save money, you can start stacking those savings to buy real estate and businesses or invest in long-term wealth-building investment accounts. But, without a steady stream of savings coming in, you're treading water, and one emergency expense could completely blow you off course. In a high-cost-of-living area like Washington, DC., this can seem even harder as rent, gas, and going out prices are far above the national average. But, there are some surefire ways to save (and make) more every month.
On this Finance Friday episode, we talk to Richard, a government tech worker who makes a great salary but could potentially be bringing in much more. Richard’s dream of being the President naturally led him to real estate investing, and now he’s focused on building bigger, stronger, and smarter income streams so he has ultimate time freedom (and a high net worth) in the next few decades. But even with his tech salary, Richard struggles to save every month, with random expenses knocking him out as soon as they arise.
Mindy and Scott go through Richard’s income and expenses as well as his debts, much of which are forgivable student loans. Richard debates whether sticking with his perk-heavy government job is worth the pay difference he could gain in the private sector. And whether or not buying cash-flowing businesses is a smart move, especially for someone without much savings. If you’ve struggled to boost your bank account, this episode may hit close to home!
In This Episode We Cover
Public student loan forgiveness and the “trap” many government workers find themselves in
Emergency funds, safety reserves, and how to build one from scratch
When to change jobs for more pay vs. when to keep big benefits, but a lower salary
How to budget and the better way to track your expenses if you struggle to save
Buying a business and what it takes for first-time entrepreneurs
Creating a vivid vision of what your life, job, and business will look like in five to ten years
And So Much More!
Links from the Show
Find an Investor-Friendly Real Estate Agent
BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group
Finance Review Guest Onboarding
Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place
Apply to Be a Guest on The Money Show
Subscribe to The “On The Market” YouTube Channel
Listen to The “On The Market” Podcast: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, BiggerPockets
Check Out Mindy’s 2022 Live Spending Tracker and Budget
Click here to check the full show notes: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/money-363
Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Check out our sponsor page!
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money Podcast, Finance Friday edition, where we interview Richard and talk about increasing income, |
| 0:07.0 | the pros and cons of the public service student loan forgiveness plan and investing from a position of strength. |
| 0:13.0 | For me, it's weighing out the nice happy lifestyle that I have, working from home 100% |
| 0:20.0 | get a lot of time off, spend a lot of time with my wife and my pets. |
| 0:24.0 | You know, it's very happy on this side and I still have something, I still have a good, in my opinion, |
| 0:30.0 | I can still save about 20% of my income as long as I'm not paying off the credit card. |
| 0:35.0 | But you're right, you know, I do think about that often, leaving the government for the private sector. |
| 0:41.0 | Hello, hello, hello, my name is Mindy Jensen and with me as always is my big thinking co-host, Scott Trent. |
| 0:47.0 | Always another scalable opportunity to chat with you about money today, Mindy. |
| 0:51.0 | Scott and I are here to make financial independence less scary, less just for somebody else, |
| 0:56.0 | to introduce you to every money story because we truly believe financial freedom is attainable for everyone, |
| 1:01.0 | no matter when or where you're starting. |
| 1:03.0 | That's right, whether you want to retire early and travel the world, go on to make big-time investments in assets like real estate, |
| 1:08.0 | start your own business, buy businesses, become president, or live in a castle. |
| 1:12.0 | We'll help you reach your financial goals and get money out of the way so you can launch yourself towards your dreams. |
| 1:17.0 | Scott, I'm super excited to talk to Richard today because he has a lot of opportunity ahead of him. |
| 1:23.0 | He's also got some pretty big, let's see, challenges ahead and some things to think about. |
| 1:31.0 | Yeah, I think what's awesome about the show today is Richard has some pretty clear dreams and some pretty clear goals in his life that he wants to achieve. |
| 1:43.0 | What he's missing is a foundation that is suitable from which to pursue those goals in a way that is responsible and high probability. |
| 1:52.0 | That's what he needs to pour over the next couple of years and I hope that the advice we gave him is motivating in that, yes, you should and can go after these dreams. |
| 2:01.0 | You can't go after them now, responsibly, in some ways. |
| 2:04.0 | But within one, two, three, four years, they should meaningful steps towards those dreams should be realistic and probable. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BiggerPockets, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BiggerPockets and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.