The Dough Roller Money Podcast

I‘ve struggled with productivity for years. Give me a deadline and I can work like a rented mule. Leave me to my own devices, however, and I’m as productive as carefree summer day at the beach. This really came to light for me when I started working from home. With no supervisors and few hard […] The post DR 129: 5 Simple Strategies to Stay Productive Working from Home (bet you never thought of #5) appeared first on The Dough Roller.

With a son and daughter now grown, I often wonder how well I prepared them to handle finances. While they are both now in their early 20’s, the truth is that their financial education is far from over. I continue to work with them on everything from budgeting to investing. And that’s why Rob Pivnick’s […] The post DR 128: What All Kids Should Know About Saving & Investing–An Interview with Author Rob Pivnick appeared first on The Dough Roller.

Robo-advisors are all the rage today. These online tools help automate investing, from picking an asset allocation plan to buying the mutual funds or ETFs to rebalancing. What they don’t do, however, is help us with broader financial planning tasks. Enter iQuantifi. Founded by Tom White, a former financial planner and investment advisor, iQuantifi is […] The post DR 127: iQuantifi–Interview with its Founder Tom White appeared first on The Dough Roller.

In last week’s newsletter I asked the following question: What is your favorite book about money. Some of the responses listed popular books. Some mentioned books that were new to me. Each of the books offers some real insight into personal finance and investing. Arguably the best thing we can do to improve our finances […] The post The Most Popular Personal Finance Books appeared first on The Dough Roller.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. It started with an innocent email from a listener of the Dough Roller Money Podcast. They asked if I would dedicate a show to talking about . . . me. For better or worse, they wanted to know about the guy behind the mic. Do that triggered […] The post DR 125: A Podcast Listener Interviews . . . Me appeared first on The Dough Roller.

Where do people stash their cash for emergencies? That’s the question I asked more than 18,000 subscribers to the weekly Dough Roller newsletter. The common wisdom is to keep emergency funds in an FDIC insured bank account, preferably one that pays a high yield. But with interest rates at historic lows, are people taking on […] The post DR 124: Where Do People Keep Their Emergency Fund? appeared first on The Dough Roller.

I met Joshua Sheats earlier this year at a blogger conference. In the span of 30 minutes we talked about everything from budgeting to investing to careers to podcasting. A certified financial planner, among other things, Joshua spent many years in the business. Recently, he hung up his calculator and started a podcast full time […] The post DR 123: Interview with Joshua Sheats, CFP, of Radical Personal Finance appeared first on The Dough Roller.

A lot has been written about good debt vs bad debt. As the names suggest, the idea is to avoid bad debt and embrace, at least to a point, good debt. But what do these terms really mean, and how can they help us make sound financial decisions? Like so many financial rules of thumbs, […] The post DR 122: Good Debt vs. Bad Debt appeared first on The Dough Roller.

Imagine you’ve worked hard and saved for retirement. You have assets in taxable accounts, traditional retirement accounts, and Roth retirement accounts. When you retire, which accounts should you withdraw from first? That’s the question I posed to Stuart Ritter of T. Rowe Price. In the interview that follows, Stuart does a great job of discussing […] The post Which Retirement Accounts Should You Withdraw From First? appeared first on The Dough Roller.

Prioritizing financial goals is one of the hardest things to do.  And it comes into play in so many different ways. How much would you save for an emergency fund while you’re paying off all your debt? Which debt should you pay off first? Should you pay off all your debt before saving for retirement? […] The post DR 120: Should You Save for Retirement or a Home? appeared first on The Dough Roller.

One of the most important and confusing decisions retirees must make is how and when to claim social security benefits. There are countless things to consider including age to start taking benefits, whether you’ll continue to work, spousal benefits, and full retirement age. For that reason, I asked Social Security benefits expert Marc Kiner to […] The post DR 119: Advanced Social Security Benefits Strategies–Interview with Marc Kiner appeared first on The Dough Roller.

It’s advice we hear time and again–stick to your asset allocation plan. Whether the stock market is reaching new highs are new lows, don’t change your investments apart from rebalancing. It’s the kind of advice that is simple to understand, but difficult to follow. In fact, a lot of investors don’t follow this advice. In […] The post DR 118: 9 Actionable Tips to Help You Stick to Your Investment Plan appeared first on The Dough Roller.

The release of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus raises an important question–is the iPhone 6 worth the cost? While nobody can answer that question for you, I decided to pull together as much information as I could on how to find the best deal on the 6 and 6 Plus. What a headache. […] The post Cheapest Place to Buy a iPhone 6 appeared first on The Dough Roller.

This is the third article in an ongoing series on dividend investing. In part 1 we started with an introduction to dividends. In part 2 we examined how dividends work in conjunction with mutual funds. Today we are going to look at dividend growth. My goal for this article and podcast is to convince you […] The post DR 116: Dividend Investing (Part 3)–Dividend Growth appeared first on The Dough Roller.

In many families, one spouse handles the investments. As for the other spouse, he or she often has little interest in understanding mutual funds, ETFs, asset allocation, or retirement accounts. Yet what would happen if the one handling the investments were to die or incapacitated. How would the non-investing spouse handle this important responsibility? The […] The post DR 115: How to Prepare Your Spouse to Invest When You Are Gone appeared first on The Dough Roller.

Tracking your net worth is an essential step to managing your finances. In a single number your net worth can measure your financial progress, whether you are climbing out of debt, building an investment portfolio, or both. We’ve covered how to track your net worth in the past. Recently I received an email from a […] The post DR 114: 3 Tools to Track Your Net Worth appeared first on The Dough Roller.

How should you invest money in a 529 plan? These college savings plans present some unique investing challenges. On the one hand you want the money to grow to at least keep up with the rising cost of college. On the other hand, there is a limited time horizon. Assume too much risk and the […] The post DR 113: How to Invest in a 529 Plan appeared first on The Dough Roller.

Have you ever paid off a debt only to find that it caused your credit score to drop? That’s exactly what happened to Lakisher, a listener who graciously sent me the following email: “I have a question. I think I know the basics of my credit and credit report but I recently paid off my […] The post 7 Things that Cause Your Credit Score to Fluctuate from Month-to-Month appeared first on The Dough Roller.

What should you do with your 401k or 403b when you leave your job? This is a question that confronts more and more people. According to the Department of Labor young Baby Boomers held on average 11.3 jobs from age 18 to 46. So it was no surprise when I received the following email from […] The post DR 111: What Should You Do With Your 401k When You Leave Your Job appeared first on The Dough Roller.

Recently two readers emailed me about cash back credit cards. Their questions prompted me to put this guide together to help readers better understand, compare, and choose a cash rewards credit card. First let’s look at the emails. From a reader named Pop: You have a great post on a strategy to use cash back […] The post DR 110: The Complete Guide to Cash Back Credit Cards appeared first on The Dough Roller.