The Smart Start Money Podcast
Smart Start Money provides information on making smart money decisions. Providing tips, personal experiences, and opinions on saving smart and spending smart. Times have changed since getting a job and keeping the same place of employment for a lifetime. The average time spent with one employer is now three to five years. Companies are replacing workers with lean staff that previously held more people to accomplish the same tasks. This has resulted in periods of unemployment for many people making it challenging to save for retirement and stay debt-free. The rising costs of healthcare, consumer goods, and wages that often do not seem to keep pace with the cost of daily life make it more important than ever to make smart financial decisions. Millions of people struggle each day to get ahead. The intention of Smart Start Money is to not only provide insight into saving or spending but also open conversations. Discussions relating to the economy, employment, and even the occasional forbidden topic of politics are possible. If the subject matter has a correlation to helping people with their finances or questioning the so-called experts, it is open for dialogue. It has never been more important than ever to save and stay out of debt. No one has all the answers when it comes to personal finance. People come from all different backgrounds in life. The choices we make and the opportunities available are never identical. We can all learn from each other.
Episodes
The world today appears to be full of workplace bullies. According to a survey on bullying released in 2021, 30 percent of Americans report having experienced abusive conduct at work. This is up 57% from 2017. An estimated 48.6 million Americans are bullied on the job.
The problem with bullies in the workplace is they can hurt an organization’s productivity. More importantly, it impacts those that are being bullied by often causing...
When it comes to telling a lie on your resume most career experts will agree that it is a bad idea. The problem with this is how can a job seeker compete with other applicants that do blatantly not tell the truth when it comes to their employment credentials?
Because so many people stretch the truth about their employment background most do get away with it to some extent. A study by Ladders.com found that 80% of the people they ...
Workplace slackers are nothing new. If you have been in the workplace for any length of time, you know the type of person that tries to do the least amount of work they possibly can. Although some people are just fundamentally lazy, there are also plenty of people in the working world that are not naturally the type of people that enjoy doing nothing except for when it comes to their job.
The problem with slackers in the workplace ...
People that are looking to purchase a home frequently question how much they can afford to pay for a house. Although numerous financial experts claim to have a simple formula for the answer, the truth is there are several factors to consider. Affordability of just the purchase cost, down payment, and monthly mortgage price shouldn’t be the only components to consider when trying to calculate the affordability of purchasing a house....
Getting ahead in corporate America or with just about any employer is likely more challenging than it ever has been. With a growing number of companies consistently moving to a model of more with less while chasing the cheapest price to compete on a global level, employers appear to be comfortable telling many of the same lies they have been for decades. The only difference now is a growing number of people are beginning to get wis...
Most markets around the country are seeing outrageous and unrealistic housing prices. According to a Bankrate report, the average home price has increased by about 30% in the last decade as the money people make has only seen a gain of around 11%. The American dream of buying a home is becoming out of reach for a growing number of middle-income families in the country and it is leaving many people on a fixed income in a serious fin...
Proponents of renewable energy are frequently implying it will come from things that won’t run out like wind, water, sunlight, and plants. Moreover, they claim these new clean energy sources will not only be easily replenished but will also be better for the environment. The problem with the claim is many supposedly renewable energy resources are not renewable and they are also not exactly environmentally friendly.
Politicians in ...
Sports fans need to start realizing a growing number of professional sports athletes and team owners could really care less about their fans. From overpriced game tickets and concessions to high parking fees, professional sports figures and owners simply have no concern that many middle-income families can no longer afford to attend a game. These people care about only one thing and that is greed.
Make no mistake. The recent Majo...
With an estimated 15% of student loan holders in default at any given time, the question that often comes up is “What happens if you don’t pay your student loans?” This question is nothing new when it comes to higher education debt. However, it does seem as though the uncertainty of repaying student loans for a growing number of borrowers is bringing up the subject of student loan repayment more frequently.
Not paying student loa...
It doesn’t matter. Both republicans and democrats never seem to tell the complete truth and neither does the media. They all spin a story for their own politics and financial gain. The truth always seems to lie somewhere in the middle.
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With the current state of America and the conflict with Russia and Ukraine, no one seems to be asking the real questions. Corporate America and Washington have gotten wealthy from overseas cheap labor and manufacturing. It doesn’t seem like anyone wants to address the elephant in the room.
While Russia gets sanctions, they have made a deal to sell energy to China. This is all at the same time America imports just about everything...
America is clearly divided. You only need to look at recent government elections. Combine this with financial uncertainty for a growing number of families in the country. Add the most recent tensions felt around the world with Russia and Ukraine. It should not come as a surprise that most Americans are stressed out, depressed, and angry. The mounting bad news even seems to make Covid a concern of the past on nightly television stat...
Many companies like to give employee satisfaction surveys. They do this by explaining it helps the company identify areas of improvement. Businesses claim employee surveys are for the benefit of their employees. Moreover, there is also almost always an added statement that the employee survey will be anonymous. However, this is likely rarely ever the case.
The truth is employee satisfaction surveys or engagement surveys are hardly ...
With the continued growth of e-commerce and home delivery services, porch thieves are seeing an increasing amount of opportunity to plunder online shoppers. Not only is the holiday season a great time for the patio bandits to take what is not theirs, but just about any day is now a good time for them to go to work.
The problem with porch pirates is only getting worse and there likely will not be a slowdown anytime soon. The reason ...
People that have student loan debt have been coping with it the same way they have been for some time now. They have been dealing with it by taking decades to pay back student loans while putting their life on hold.
Lar...
I recently purchased a new vehicle and like most buyers, I hate the traditional car dealer experience with trying to negotiate a fair deal. Researching the truck I was interested in purchasing, I looked for ways to limit the outdated annoying typical car sale experience. The long negotiation and waiting game at the dealership to get a fair deal was so...
With the price of automobiles skyrocketing in the United States, it should not come as a surprise the average car payment for a new vehicle in 2021 is now $563. American drivers are increasingly becoming poor due to the need for transportation. Although auto loans are leaving many people with little money left at the end of the month, it is not just the initial cost of a car that is a problem. Record-high gasoline prices and mainte...
In the previous podcast, I talked about my initial car buying experience in a difficult market. The pandemic has created a shortage of computer chips and inventory for new vehicles. Car dealers are trying to use the pandemic as an excuse to charge more for the vehicles they are selling. It is true that you might have to pay close to retail depending o...
Buying a car right now in this market might not be the best idea. A shortage of inventory and computer chips is making it challenging for buyers to get transportation at a fair price. Car dealer incentives and rebates appear to almost not even exist.
Although it is a terrible time to purchase a new vehicle, I had to make the decision to do it. Car buying for most people is never a pleasant experience. My affection when it comes t...
With the economic and political divide in America, listening to the news has become both annoying and often a waste of time. Politicians and media outlets never seem to be telling the entire story. Transparency is lost in Washington and journalism. Regardless of a person’s political beliefs, both sides are regularly reporting the news while omitting important details.
No one has all the answers for improving America socially and ...
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