Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Celebrating EPISODE 400 with 5 Golden Rules of Money

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

We're celebrating episode 400 with a montage, five foundational tips for getting your financial life together, and an announcement.   As promised, here are all the links you need to get it together and get it all: Nicole's 3x/week newsletter with Bulletin: https://nicolelapin.bulletin.com/  Nicole's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolelapin/?hl=en  Money Rehab episode on emergency funds: https://link.chtbl.com/SUpWck8O  Episode on glowing up your credit score: https://link.chtbl.com/LacSGerr  Episode on Index Funds and chilling: https://link.chtbl.com/boVOscLa  Episode on I Bonds: https://link.chtbl.com/xPywOgyB  Episode on Roth IRAs: https://link.chtbl.com/oa5sZDsb 

Money rehabbers, you get it. When you're trying to have it all, you end up doing a lot of juggling. You have to balance your work, your friends, and everything in between. So when it comes to your finances, the last thing you need is more juggling. That's where Bank of America steps in. With Bank of America, you can manage your banking, borrowing, and even investing all in one place. Their digital tools bring everything together under one roof, giving you a clear view of your finances whenever you need it. Plus, with Bank of America's wealth of expert guidance available at any time, you can feel confident that your

money is working as hard as you do. So why overcomplicate your money? Keep it simple with Bank of America, your one-stop shop for everything you need today and the goals you're working toward tomorrow. To get started, visit bofa.com slash newprosmedia. That's b-o-f-a dot com slash n-e-w pros p-r-o-s media. bfa.com slash newprosmedia. Hey guys, are you ready for some money rehab? Wall Street has been completely upended by an unlikely player, GameStop. And should I have a 401k? You don't do it? No, I never do it. You think the whole world revolves around you and your money.

Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. This is a super special day because today marks the 400th episode of Money Rehab.

400 episodes! Can you believe it? If I think back to when I recorded the pilot for this show in my car in the pouring rain, true story, I can hardly believe it myself. But the proof is in the montage. So let's do it. Over the last 399 episodes, we have covered a lot of ground. We've nailed some money basics. Now we're going to make your...

Drumroll, please, budget. I know it sounds like a bad word. You probably hate this word. I hated this word before. That's why I like to call it a spending plan because it doesn't feel as scary. And leveled up to varsity status topics. At the start of the pandemic, every person on Twitter was DMing me about hot stocks. They were like, Nicole, should I buy Zoom? What are your thoughts on Peloton? Netflix is killing it right now with everyone stuck at home watching it. Should I buy their stock? To all of those folks who said it was their first time getting into investing, I said hell to the no. No investing in individual stocks. And I repeated the title of this episode to them.

Index funds and chill. We've heard from some inspiring changemakers. I mean, when I saw that check for a million dollars, I was like, holy shit. And financial insiders. And how many people have you helped through bankruptcy? Oh, you know what? A wild guess would be about 7,000. And my personal favorite, we've had interventions with amazing listeners. I've been struggling with debt for like over 10 years. So like,

that's all I've known as being a grown up. So now I'm just like, what do I do now? Like, you know, I'm saving and I'm starting to put more money in like my 401k. And after 400 episodes coming to you daily, it's time for us to take a break. And I'll be honest, because it's the only way I know how to be, I'm not sure when we're coming back. But here's what I can tell you. Whether Money Rehab comes back as you know and love it, or I come back with something a little shinier and new, I'll be using this time to workshop so the next thing that hits your ears is bigger and better than ever before. But make no mistake, even though Money Rehab is taking a little break, I am not. I'm still going to be decoding the most important financial headlines for you and answering your questions on all my other platforms. So if you haven't yet, please subscribe to my site on Bulletin, which I've linked in the show notes, and follow me on the gram at Nicole Lappin. My DMs are always open for your questions. Because here's the thing, just because money rehab is hitting a little pause doesn't mean the financial world will do the same. Money never

sleeps, baby. Even if you're not starting your day with money rehab, you should still carve out a little time to rehab your finances every day. To make this easier, I'll distill the most important tips you've heard on the show thus far. Number one, start an emergency fund. I don't know if I need to explain why emergency funds are important after the last three years of pandemic madness and layoffs galore, but just in case, here's the deal. If, God forbid, something happens to you or you lose your job, you're going to find that even though you don't have any income, you still have expenses and you can't pay for your groceries with an asset. And by asset, I mean something that you own outright that you could

sell if you needed to bring in extra money like a car, a house or a boat. Although a house could be worth cold, hard cash if you sold it. It's just not cash now, is it? When you check out at the grocery store, the cashier asks you credit or debit. You can't say house or boat, right? You'd need to sell that house for cash, which isn't a feasible way to get cash fast. So you need some money squirreled away. A doomsday fund, a treasure chest, an oh shit fund, a break in case of emergency fund, whatever you want to call it, you need one. Number two, glow up your credit score. Your credit score is super important. Think of it like the grade you get on your financial report card. And maybe your report card wasn't all that important once you got

out of school, but in the money world, your financial transcript is very important. If you're not acing your credit report, you're going to pay a higher interest rate on your credit card. When you're buying a home, it will screw you with your mortgage and closing costs, and it can be the deciding factor in whether or not you get a mortgage at all. Plus, if you need to take out a loan for something important, banks will look at your credit score to approve you or not. It's basically supposed to tell people who are looking at it like a lender just how trustworthy you are and how likely you are to pay them back. But you are in luck. Unlike a transcript with your final end of your grades, there's no final credit report. You can always

change your credit score if you put in the work. Number three, sign up for a brokerage account. A common misconception is that the best way to build wealth is to make lots and lots of money. That's actually false. The best way to build wealth is to make your money work for you. And the best way to do that is to invest it. Index funds and chill. Am I right? Spoiler alert. Yes, I am right. Number four, buy an iBond. The series iBond is the MVP of all bonds right now. Right now, the semi-annual rate based on inflation is 4.81%. So annualized, you get a composite rate of 9.62%. That's an amazing ROI. And with a potential recession looming and in a bear market, stellar ROIs are hard to come by. So do your future self a solid and put an eye in I-bonds. Number five, open a Roth IRA. Like most people, money has been a

source of anxiety in my life, but I'm proud to say that it's something I've gotten a handle on. But one thing that still brings me big stress is thinking about the 37% of Americans that are not saving for retirement. So please, if you haven't already, start a Roth IRA. But don't do it for me. Do it for your future retired, cute, little wrinkly self. Ready to dive into these five good financial habits? Well, great, because I've linked five episodes in the show notes that will help you work on each of those. And even while we're taking a break, again, I am always here, so don't be a stranger. But I do want to take this opportunity to say this.

Of the last 399 episodes, each and every one has closed with me thanking you for investing in yourself so that you can finally get it together and get it all. You are the reason I do this. Because trust me, putting out an episode every single day is not a walk in the park. There have been days where I've lost my voice, where crowns have literally fallen out of my mouth, my dog pawed my cornea, I had just gotten into a car accident, 5 a.m. mornings, 3 a.m. nights, but all through it, I have loved every moment of making this show for you. Your emails, your DMs, your reviews have meant the world to me, and more than I could ever say. And hearing updates

of your progress on the road to financial freedom is really and truly why I got out of bed in the morning. Believe me when I say I am so, so proud of you and all the progress you've made and will continue to make. So I just want to say for the 400th time, thank you. And for the 4,000th time, even though that's not enough, thank you to Morgan Lavoie and Mike Coscarelli. You are the ultimate dream team. This ambitious undertaking would have never been possible without you. Your talent is only rivaled by your character. You are the Roth to my IRA, the yield to my bond, the ROI to my every investment. In other words, you are the best part of anything I touch. I love you like Warren Buffett loves his Vanguard S&P 500 index funds. I love you like a crypto bro loves his Coinbase account.

I love you for loving financial jokes and puns as much as I do, and for so many other reasons that will make me cry like the Fed did at the site of the last inflation numbers. When everyone else listens to this show, they hear me. But whenever I listen to it, I have and will always hear you. Hi, this is Morgan. And this is Mike Cascarelli. And we're the producers on Money Rehab. We know how much Nicole appreciates all of you, the listeners, but we could not end this historic Money Rehab episode without flipping the script and thanking Nicole.

We thought we were geniuses for sneaking a thank you into the episode without her hearing it first before it goes live, but she did it first because of course she did. She's always 500 steps ahead. So if you've been listening, you know from her listener interventions that Nicole makes a big impact on people, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Nicole really and truly does change people's lives. And Mike and I know that firsthand. When I started working on the show 400 episodes ago, I was pretty broke. I had never

invested and I was an associate producer doing the work of a producer. Nicole inspired me to make my money work for me and to start investing. And it's been honestly an out of body experience to watch that money grow. As someone who grew up raised by a single mom, who's never had a financial safety net or a trust fund, I didn't think the investment world was for me, but she showed me it could be. And the only reason now I have that sweet producer title in my email signature is because she taught me how to advocate for myself and how negotiation can be the most fun type of cardio. Nicole is truly the role model I've always needed. And I too love her like a crypto bro loves his Coinbase account. And because I've been working

for her for the last year, I now get that reference. So I started working on the show a little bit later than 400 episodes ago, probably a couple episodes in. At that time, I did not have a whole lot of money. I opened up a couple of index funds. I bought some stocks. I made a few investments. And wouldn't you know it? I'm a fucking millionaire. I got a little ways to go. But working with Nicole has been an amazing experience just beyond actual financial advice. Nicole's one of the best people that I've ever worked for and one of the best people that I've ever known. She never hesitates to help you if she can.

As you guys might've heard the episode where she helped me negotiate my rent for my first apartment where I was living alone. She didn't even blink when I asked for help on how to do that. Now, granted, we did turn it into content, but Nicole is just somebody that I know and Morgan knows that we can just go to in any situation and get great advice and a loving touch and a level of warmth that you don't get from most

people. So although the financial advice has been great and it has helped me develop an adult financial portfolio, which I didn't have before working with her, it's just been an honor and a privilege to work with a team that's so great and a person that's just so wonderful. And let me tell you something, people, you've been lucky to get this free financial advice for 400 episodes. And now there will be more to come at some point, but man, oh man, we're all ready for a break. But you should use this time to brush up on the things

that we've already put out there for you. Because, I mean, Nicole's the best there is. If you just follow some of these steps, you too can turn your financial life around. So for today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. Use the links in the show notes to keep up with all of the exciting things Nicole is working on. Because the ROI will be worth it. You can take it from us.

Yes, and follow me on Instagram at Mike Coscarelli. Spend my money, money, money. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Mike Coscarelli. Executive producers are Nikki Etor and Will Pearson. Our mascots are Penny and Mimsy. Huge thanks to OG Money Rehab team Michelle Lanz for her development work,

Catherine Law for her production and writing magic, and Brandon Dickert for his editing, engineering, and sound design. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.