Points, Miles, Cash Back--What are they and how do they work?Find out on today's episode!Credit Cards can be an awesome strategy (and a really fun hobby for some people) to both lower your cost of living and increase your quality of life without paying the sticker price.You can earn thousands of dollars of free travel if you're intentional about your spending and have a strategy. BUT: You don't get to play the game unless you play by the rules.Pay off your cards in full every month without failDon't spend money on your cards that you wouldn't have spent otherwiseStay away from sketchy manufactured spending / gray area stuff. AKA obey the terms and conditions of the cardsListen to find out if you should consider getting into travel hacking!

What do Habits, Pest Control, and Dating have in common?Stay tuned and find out!Today, Jared and Russell talk about how confidence, rejection, and incremental improvements have had an outsized impact in summer sales and even their dating lives!

Where does retirement come from?People have only started retiring in the last 100 yearsMost people in history worked until they died or until they were taken care of by their children.When welfare systems like Social Security we’re put into place, age 65 was arbitrarily put in place as the end of a working life.Today, the Standard Path we’ve been sold is to work from 18-65 and then you can enjoy the rest of your life What if there was another way?What if you could retire earlier?What would you do with your life if money wasn’t a limiting factor?That is what Financial Independence is all about. Finding meaning in life, and getting your money to support your vision.

Where do your beliefs around money come from? School, your parents, tv?In today's episode, Russell and Jared talk about their own money stories. Tune in for the lessons learned fromLearning how to have a successful lemonade standSelling choir tickets in a white tie tuxedoSaving money for the future as a kidand more!To discover your own money stories, ask yourself these questions:Did my parents ever talk about money? What did they say about money?Was I in any groups or clubs that made me sell things for fundraisers?Did I save up to buy things, or did I spend all the money I had?Did I ever see something I wanted, then figured out how to earn the money to buy it?Imagine an XY axis: The x-axis is our money-making belief spectrum: People range from "I can only make as much as my job will pay me" to "If I'm creative and work hard, the sky is my limit to how much I can earn"The y-axis is our frugality belief spectrum:People range from "I need to save all of my money" to "I need to spend all of my money"Where do you fall on the graph? What can you do to change your position?If we understand where our money stories come from, we can choose to develop new beliefs about money -- beliefs that push us towards our goals!

Best Introduction to FI Book:-The Simple Path to Wealth by JL CollinsBest Introduction to FI Podcast:-ChooseFI. Best Real Estate Podcast:-BiggerPockets. Best DIY Entrepreneurship Podcast:-The Rebel Entrepreneur. Podcasts in my daily/weekly rotation:-Afford Anything (General FI and Real Estate podcast)-All the Hacks (Travel hacks and life hacks)-Radical Personal Finance (Former financial planner that takes a slightly contrarian view towards FI which is really helpful to keep you from blindly drinking kool aid)-YNAB (The You Need A Budget software's podcast. You can get the budgeting software for free for a year if you're a student.)-Beginning Balance (YNAB business podcast)-Mad Fientist -Bigger Pockets Money Podcast-Mile High FI -Mind Your Business-Eventual Millionaire-Stacking Benjamins-Military Money Manual-The Military Millionaire PodcastNot finance related podcasts I listen to:-Jordan B. Peterson Podcast-Art of Manliness-Valuetainment-The Ed Mylett Show-The Tim Ferris Show-Impact Theory