Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate Easy Lauren K Aumond

Lauren and Rocky open up the conversation talking about what success means in business. Most business comes down to math, and simple math at that. If you sit down before starting a business and do the math, you should have an idea about whether the business can be successful. The conversation takes a turn towards cash washes, which Lauren welcomes. Is this really becoming as oversaturated as it seems? Lauren then asks Rocky to demystify and differentiate “money” in business: revenue, profit, cash. A huge key to understand here is that you can have a profitable business that runs out of cash. This occurs when you try to grow too fast. Not enough business owners understand this! Rocky also points out that you should be aware of some initial success, and that it won’t necessarily continue. He also recommends using conservative numbers when “underwriting” your business plan. Lauren then asks Rocky about buying a business. Is that easier than creating one? You should take into account how much involvement the owner has, the client number and mix, and more. This is when rocky explains the Profit First system, which is very like paying yourself first in the personal finance realm. Speaking of personal finance, Rocky touches on the importance of separating personal and business finances. Rocky closes with reminding people to do the math before they start (or buy) the business they’re considering. He warns us about going into franchises. It should make business sense, not passion sense.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 67: Starting Your Own Business or 140: Online Businesses.

About Rocky:
Rocky Lalvani is the Chief Profitability Adviser for business owners. He teaches them how to ensure they get paid and make profit a priority! As a certified Profit First Professional, he implements Mike Michalowicz's Profit First System. Rocky started with nothing when his parents immigrated to the United States when he was two years old, and his parents were in their 40's. It was his parents' second time starting over in life as they moved here to experience the American dream. Despite a lot of struggles and his mom passing away when Rocky was 7, he has achieved financial and life success. Rocky loves to share his journey and inspire others to achieve their dreams even faster.

Connect with Rocky:
http://richersoul.com/
https://profitcomesfirst.com/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rocky-lalvani/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/richersoul
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/richer.soul/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/rockylalvani

Connect with Lauren:
https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy
https://www.instagram.com/@adultingiseasyreal
https://www.housemoneymedia.com/

First, Lauren needs to know why people call him Rock/Rawk. Then, she asks about the “accidental landlord” thing. It turns out, what happened to Rawk and his wife is a tale as old as time: they bought a house thinking they’d stay a while, but then a job offer took them elsewhere. Lauren and Rawk dive into the numbers of that “deal”: purchase price, interest rate, and rent. Then, the conversation transitions to overall personal finance, like saving vs investing and budgeting. Interestingly, Rawk and his wife are long-distance landlords, but they rent in Atlanta! How did Rawk get into investing? One of his professors at UCF told him about Roth IRAs, and that’s how it started. Later, someone came in and spoke at his job about personal finance basics, like compound interest. It sounds like Rawk and his wife are aligned, which we know is very important. Currently, they are investing in index funds, hoping to have enough to live off of in their late 40s or early 50s. At that point, they will have flexibility to go part time or start a business. They’re very into traveling right now too. This leads to discussion about what it’s worth spending money on. Obviously, the answers are travel, good sauce, and movers. For Lauren, it’s wine. Lauren asks another difficult question: rent vs buy. And then she asks about Hondas vs Toyotas. They’re both Honda fans. Lastly, she asks about Rawk’s parents and what they taught him about money, and whether kids are on the horizon.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like 168: Keep Finance Personal or 156: Financial Independence Doesn’t Have to Be Extreme.

About Rawk:

Rawk is a project manager with a passion for personal finance. A Florida native now based in the Atlanta area, he is a self-proclaimed finance junkie. Rawk has been investing since 2018 and he became an accidental landlord since 2023 with 1 rental. For fun, Rawk is an avid hiker in his spare time.

Connect with Rawk:
https://twitter.com/Rawk_FI
https://www.threads.net/@rawk_finance

Connect with Lauren:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/adultingiseasyreal/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.housemoneymedia.com/

Lauren needed a vacation, so we're replaying one of her favorite episodes in which she and her friend Kurtis absolutely destroy the beloved self help book Think and Grow Rich. Note that the sound wasn't as good back then, but it's still very easy to listen to. The original episode was posted October 12, 2021.



The book Think and Grow Rich was written by Napoleon Hill and published in 1937. It is a famous personal finance book recommended by many. On this episode of Adulting Is Easy, Lauren and Kurtis discuss what they liked and what they didn't like about this book - mostly what they didn't like. Let's just say, neither would recommend this book, and you certainly don't have to read it to enjoy listening to this one. As a matter of fact, you should never read it. Lauren gets HEATED at one point.

Kurtis Hanni is an Accountant who has a love of all things personal finance. After teaching Dave Ramsey classes, he thought 'there has to be a better way" and thus started the journey of creating his own finance content. Today Kurtis has a podcast Delve into Money and shares additional insights on Twitter daily.



Books You Should Read Instead:

Lauren: Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin, The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins, Set for Life by Scott Trench

Kurtis: 7 and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett, Essentialism by Greg McKeown, Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi



Connect with Kurtis: 

https://www.kurtishanni.com/

https://twitter.com/KurtisHanni



Connect with Lauren:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/adultingiseasyreal/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.housemoneymedia.com/

You can’t talk about Bitcoin without starting with defining cryptocurrency. When you think about it, even the US dollar is somewhat digital. What makes cryptocurrency different is that it’s decentralized. Bitcoin started as a cryptocurrency, but it’s morphed over time to a store of value and hedge against inflation. Andy emphasizes that Bitcoin is very much in its infancy. He goes on to explain mining, the global ledger, blockchain, and how it all fits together. Andy explains how Bitcoin is inflating, and how the supply of Bitcoin is pre-programmed. Lauren wonders who created this interesting new space? Andy explains that no one exactly knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is/was. This person’s or group’s Bitcoin has not been touched, which has 1 million Bitcoin in it (worth billions of dollars). Lauren also asks about who mines Bitcoin currently and who will be doing it in the future. Recently, Bitcoin went through one of its “halving” instances, which decreased profitability in the short-term. Andy himself has 25 machines mining Bitcoin. Lauren asks about other cryptocurrencies, of which there are over ten thousand. In short, most are scams. Lauren asks Andy to discuss his portfolio. About 40% of his crypto portfolio is Bitcoin. And about 60-70% of his overall portfolio is crypto. Again, Andy emphasizes how young the cryptocurrency space is. Lauren also has to ask why crypto enthusiasts keep telling her to have fun staying poor, and Andy has a great answer for that. Andy is a believer in Bitcoin as an inflation hedge. Then, the conversation transitions to the future of Bitcoin. He’s obviously very optimistic about the future, but we need to remember that this is still a bit of an experiment. Lauren is also curious about custody of Bitcoin, which is a great feature for those in other countries because you can access your money with your password and the government can’t take it from you. But you don’t have to go that route. Then, the two transition to discussing Bitcoin ETFs. These transactions are not recorded in the blockchain. Surprisingly (or maybe not?), Andy holds some Bitcoin ETFs in a Roth IRA. Finally, he encourages you to keep learning if you interest is piqued at all.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 62, the first time Lauren interviewed Andy.



About Andy:

Andy has been in crypto for 7+ years, is a Bitcoin miner, a content creator on YouTube and Twitter, and a passive income enthusiast.



Connect with Andy:

https://youtube.com/c/YourFriendAndy

https://youtube.com/@andyandfriends

https://passivebites.beehiiv.com/subscribe



Connect with Lauren:

https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy

https://www.instagram.com/@adultingiseasyreal

https://www.housemoneymedia.com/

Lauren kicks the interview off asking about how Alex and his wife got into the wedding venue space. Their interest in the wedding space started when they were planning their own wedding over 5 years ago. It was important to them that they go away from the barn look that so many venues have now. They have both a groom and bridal suite. And they wanted it to be close to the airport. They do offer some additional amenities, like games, fire pit, water feature, and putting green. And they offer everything they feasibly can as part of their packages. So, they aren’t nickel and diming as much as competitors do. The packages cover the venue and alcohol. Peak season is May – Thanksgiving mostly on Fridays and Saturdays as far as weddings go. Alex and his wife do welcome other events at their space to fill the weeks and off-season, like baby showers and holiday parties. Even a church sometimes rents the space! Naturally, Lauren dives into the personal finance side of weddings for engaged couples, including what happens when people break up. One question is: who’s paying for weddings nowadays? Lauren frames some of her questions from her short-term rental experience perspective, like when she asks about reviews. Over time, Alex and his wife are adding more services to their packages to increase revenue to $1 million. Finally, the conversation turns to the future, and a new partnership path Alex is going down.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 86 When Entrepreneurship Pays Off.

About Alex:
Alex Nelson is the developer & owner of The Midnight Gem, a wedding & event venue that booked 100 weddings during construction. He’s also a venue consultant and hospitality entrepreneur.

Connect with Alex:
https://twitter.com/WeddingVenueGuy
https://themidnightgem.com/

Connect with Lauren:
https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy
https://www.instagram.com/@adultingiseasyreal
https://www.housemoneymedia.com/

Lauren throws Andy a curveball right at the beginning by asking WHY he paid his house off. This is a very controversial topic in the personal finance world. Turns out, he had an OK reason, but the interest rate was pretty low…. Next, she asks how much money people need for retirement. Andy has a different take than she’s heard before. There’s a difference between wanting to retire after 59.5 and wanting to retire early. The planning is different, but a margin for error is important. Then, Andy and Lauren transition to discussing real estate, which Andy got into around age 40. Unfortunately, his desire to enter this space was predicated by a family tragedy. On the slightly bright side, his first deal was a win in a lot of ways. This leads to a conversation about net worth versus cash flow, and when in your lifetime you should focus on each. If you start with net worth, Lauren wonders how long it takes to transition to income, and Andy has an answer for how it went in his own life. It turns out, Andy potentially over contributed to his retirement accounts, locking up millions of dollars and causing him to take a hard pivot in his 40s. Lauren was on the path, but realized it and dialed down her retirement accounts in favor of a brokerage and real estate before it ballooned too much. Naturally, Lauren must ask Andy about his early retirement health insurance plans. In his final thoughts, Andy tells us about one regret he has: not taking advantage of Roth options once they came into existence. He also tells us about a great decision he made: getting life insurance for his wife.



If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 167 Wealth Blueprint: Using Your 9-5 To Buy Assets and Retire Early or 173 about passive income streams.



About Andy:

Andy began investing for the long haul in 1994 at age 23. He invested 25-40% of his income into growth mutual funds for over 20 years. Over time, he became a multi-millionaire, but his net worth was tied up in retirement investments which are not accessible until 59½. That’s when Andy began investing in income producing assets. He began acquiring rental properties, peaking at 4 in 2019. Andy added additional income streams by buying music rights and loaning money to friends and family. Next, he then added dividend ETFs in 2021. In 2022, he discovered selling options and now makes over $100k/year in this niche.

Andy formally retired from his Engineering job in corporate America at the end of 2023 after replacing his 9-5 income while having no debt including a paid off house. He has multiple sources of income in five different niches. Andy has also appeared on Dave Ramsey’s “Millionaire Hour” as well as The Millionaires Unveiled podcast.



Connect with Andy:

https://twitter.com/MillionaireDoor

Facebook: A Millionaire Next Door

www.eliteoptionsacademy.com

Web: www.MillionaireFinancialCoach.com



Connect with Lauren:

https://twitter.com/AdultingIsEasy

https://www.instagram.com/@adultingiseasyreal

https://www.housemoneymedia.com/