BiggerPockets Money Blog
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5 Ways to Get Rich Without Real Estate (Coming From Two Real Estate Nerds)
Scott and I talk about real estate a lot. Like, a lot a lot. We worked for a company called BiggerPockets for more than a decade, and shared the same roof as…
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How to Reach Financial Independence on a Low Income With Four Kids
Every so often someone posts something in our Facebook group that makes me stop scrolling. A while back, Nate Forbes shared that he and his wife had paid off most of their…
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Buy the Couch: How to Think About Big Ticket Purchases When You Can Easily Afford Them
A friend of mine and her husband are shopping for a new couch. They’ve found the one they want, and they can’t bring themselves to buy it because it costs $23,000. Twenty-three…
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Outsourcing Household Tasks: Are You Optimizing Your Time or Just Being Lazy?
I was driving home from the gym this morning when I passed a sign that said, “We hang Christmas lights.” My very first thought was, why don’t people just hang their own…
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How to Increase Your Net Worth Dramatically in One Year (No Lottery Ticket Required)
Doubling your net worth in a single year sounds like something you’d see on a billboard next to a guy leaning on a rented Lamborghini. But if you’re early in your wealth…
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Why an Umbrella Insurance Policy Belongs in Every FI Plan (Especially Now)
Let’s play a quick game. Add up your taxable brokerage account, your home equity, your rental properties, and that suspiciously large cash cushion you swear is “just for emergencies.” Now picture a…
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Why You Need to Set Your Holiday Budget Now (Before December Sets It for You)
Last month I went into a big box store for printer paper and came out having seen a twelve-foot inflatable reindeer, a pallet of peppermint bark, and an entire wall of ugly…
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530A (Trump) Accounts: Your Kid Already Has One. Here’s What Parents Need to Know
Congratulations! Your kid has a retirement account. You didn’t open it, you didn’t sign anything, and your seven-year-old definitely didn’t fill out the paperwork, since she’s still working on tying her shoes.…
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Simplify Your Portfolio Before Someone Else Has to Untangle It
I have a confession that will surprise nobody who has listened to me talk about money for more than four minutes: my portfolio is a mess. It’s a profitable mess and a…
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Thinking About Giving Up on FIRE? Maybe You Just Need a Different Savings Rate
Yesterday I was scrolling through Facebook and a post in the EconoMe Conference Facebook group stopped me in my tracks. A member asked this question: “Have you ever seriously considered giving up…
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The Roth Conversion Window: How Early Retirees Can Escape the Middle Class Trap
I recently signed up for Cole Krilich’s newsletter. He writes about pensions, and since pensions come up on the show more often than you’d think, I figured I should be able to…
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The Bucket List Math Nobody in the FI Community Wants to Do
A friend of mine, also part of the FI community, was over at my house the other day. His youngest just moved out, and he’s finally talking about travel. He said it…
Mindy Jensen has been fanatical about personal finance her entire life. She truly believes that financial freedom is attainable for anyone, no matter when or where you’re starting from. She’s been a real estate investor for decades, is slowly moving her personal portfolio from individual stocks to index funds, and is excited to learn more about investing of all types (except crypto!) She wrote First-Time Home Buyer with Scott Trench, and when you can get her to stop talking about money and investing, she can be found on her road bike in the summer, snowboarding down the Colorado slopes in the winter, and spending time with her family.
Scott Trench is a perpetual student of personal finance, real estate investing, self-improvement, health, and well-being. He is the former CEO of BiggerPockets, where he oversaw the company’s growth from 100,000 members, to 3.1M real estate investors. He is a real estate investor + broker, stock market investor and authored Set for Life and First-Time Home Buyer (co-authored with Mindy Jensen). When not discussing personal finance, he can be found picking up heavy things (or craft beers) and then putting them back down again, running, cycling, or otherwise enjoying beautiful Colorado.