Radical Personal Finance Podcast

[ToughMother]

Yup, another fan here too, and another request for going back more than 50 episodes -- want to listen to these on my iPad app...

Listened to the Wade Pfau interview twice to get all the juicy goodness (and started following his blog).  That's good stuff!  Listening to Arebelspy 2nd interview now...

Thanks for doing this!

[arebelspy]

Listened to the Wade Pfau interview twice to get all the juicy goodness (and started following his blog).  That's good stuff!

Pfau is awesome.  He's been putting out great content for years, so it's worth going to his blog archives and reading the old posts.

[daymare]

I figured I would offer my comments (and compliments!) on this thread, as you're at least somewhat likely to see them here, Joshua!

I am largely REALLY enjoying your podcasts -- I don't listen to all of them, but most, and I enjoy the amount of content as I tend to listen to podcasts when I walk (which is at least 40 mins every day), plus when I go running (currently about 3 hours a week), so it was great to get an influx of your podcasts into the pipeline.  I too actually used to listen to Dave Ramsey (like you) and ended up eventually not being able to stomach it due to big concerns about how much he simplified in his answers, and his frankly hugely irresponsible comments about investments (which echoes some of your feelings).  I also just was absolutely disgusted in how invested he was in his daughter's sex lives & virginity (without the same towards his son, of course).  I'm very liberal and so some of DR's statements I vehemently disagreed with.  I definitely don't agree with all of yours, but your approach is so refreshing and your attitude is so much one of curiosity and intellectual pursuit, that I often really enjoy the differences in our persepectives.  Sometimes it's a bit much for me ... (I wrote about this in more detail, but then decided not to post it as I'm not sure it would be appreciated/helpful).

Anyway, mainly I want to give you kudos for your openness and intelligence and out of the box thinking, and I so appreciate being able to learn from your vast store of knowledge.  I think you understand your target audience well and you deliver wide-ranging content that I'm so, so impressed by and thankful for!  (Though I do think that people who aren't finance nerds are not going to be into the show as it currently is .... quite lengthy and a bit redundant.  My husband thought it was super boring, but he's the one missing out.)

One comment on the sound quality -- some of your interviews have *really* bad sound when they're over skype.  I couldn't listen to the Go Curry Cracker interview because it was so horrid.  Not sure if there's anything you can do about that, but unfortunately it's going to stop some people (like me) from hearing some of the interviews.

Thanks for your work, love the podcast!

[RadicalPersonalFinance]

Thanks for the comments dinarik! I appreciate them. Also, thanks for the input on sound quality--there are some new technological solutions coming that I'm hoping will make the sound quality better for interviews.

Feel free to post about differences in perspectives if you ever want to. This obviously may or may not be the right place for it depending on the content, but I welcome differences.

I generally consider it a less useful way to utilize my time to spend time listening to people I always or mostly agree with. How does that serve to challenge me to defend my thought process and opinions?

Personally, if I'm ingesting content that's not making me think and analyze something I usually will skip to something else. (There are exceptions, of course.) So, I value people who disagree with me because they make me think.

That's actually one major advantage of doing a podcast: it allows me to expose my ideas to the world to see if they stand up to scrutiny or not. It's humbling and very rewarding.

I operate under this general philosophy: If you are rational, lucid and intelligent and we disagree on a question or topic it's probably because:
1. You have information or facts I don't have. (Which means I need to hear your information and facts.)
2. I have informatino or facts you don't have. (Which means you need to hear my information and facts.)
3. We have differing experience shaping our worldviews. (Which means we need to understand how another's experience has influenced them.)
4. We have differing worldviews. (Which means we're probably going to disagree about the meaning and interpretation of the facts and information. Here's where we'll probably simply wind up disagreeing with each other but we'll both benefit from a vigorous argument over the subject and perhaps later we'll both change our minds and our worldviews.)

Perhaps that's a bit simplistic and there are other potential outcomes, but that's largely how I think.

[iris lily]

.....Do you  know of any lazy people you can suggest for me to interview? I actually find it hard to find lazy people who have achieved any level of financial success because usually they're still working a job they don't like and aren't being promoted because they're lazy!

hmmmmm, I know such a person here who refers to herself often as "lazy" in the way we all mean it: save a stache, make it work for you, then quite work for the man and go off and play volleyball.  :)

Here's hoping she will wander along shortly.

[slugline]

And my interview would last about one minute - not too much interesting to say.

I've been listening to a bunch of RPF episodes recently. I'd love to hear someone try to keep Joshua that brief. :)

[arebelspy]

PLEASE interview Spartana!!!!!  She rocks.  And I want to hear what her voice sounds like after all these years of internet-only friendship.

+1, I'd listen to that episode!

[arebelspy]

PLEASE interview Spartana!!!!!  She rocks.  And I want to hear what her voice sounds like after all these years of internet-only friendship.

+1, I'd listen to that episode!

Aw shucks (blush). Well thanks guys but it probably would be a very short interview since I really haven't done most of the things others have done here (investment-wise). Just pretty much lived below my means and saved the rest. The end :-)!

Yeah, I hear you.  I turned down Joshua when he first asked me to interview, because I don't have that interesting of a story and not much to say about it.  When he asked to do ER FAQ, well, okay, I have more to say about that stuff.  So that's why we've focused more on concrete financial topics, and not really anything about my story.

So I get where you're coming from, but I still think your story of how you got ER'd would be interesting.

[RadicalPersonalFinance]

I've been listening to a bunch of RPF episodes recently. I'd love to hear someone try to keep Joshua that brief. :)

:) Made me laugh out loud.

You guys make a great sales team. Let's see if Spartana will say yes!

I actually would really like to bring you on the show if you're willing, Spartana. I think my early retiree interviews have skewed heavily male...it'd be fun to get a female perspective.

Plus, evidently you're actually lazy and there's a clamor for someone lazy on the show!

[ToughMother]

Picks up forks and bangs on (purchased at tag sale) table:  SPARTANA!  SPARTANA!  We want a *SHORT* RPF podcast with SPARTANA!

[Daisy]

Ha Ha - Oh you guys! Maybe in the future when I'm doing something interesting to gloat... er... I mean brag... er... um... I mean talk about :-)!

I wasn't going to mention it, but you are the Goddess of FIRE, after all.

[KodeBlue]

Joshua, really liked your interview on the Doughroller Podcast. Nice to hear normal sane financial discussions.

[RadicalPersonalFinance]

Joshua, really liked your interview on the Doughroller Podcast. Nice to hear normal sane financial discussions.

Thanks, amigo! I agree! :)

[RadicalPersonalFinance]

FYI, for anyone following this thread who listens via iTunes, I recently broke my iTunes feed permanently. If you're subscribed to the old feed you won't be receiving updates.

All you need to do to get the new shows (in general and in this series) is:

1. Unsubscribe
2. Search the iTunes store for Radical Personal Finance
3. Subscribe

It'll work!

Thanks!

[Paul der Krake]

Today's show on minimalism was odd. Sure it's good to be prepared and even if it's unlikely, and it's an interesting thought process to imagine what would happen if the dollar came crashing down, but I for one am not going to trade my securities to buy some precious metals.

Food and ammo, on the other hand...

[RadicalPersonalFinance]

Seems to me like lots of 100,000 rounds of ammo seem to have decent potential returns! Unfortunately, I missed out on that one!

[Paul der Krake]

I almost posted that same thought on MMM's Betterment blog where he used arms/ammo hording as an example of what not to do.  Was going to point out that WSHTF or something like a change in gun laws arises the cost of ammo skyrockets due to high demand and scarcity.

So I didn't know what WSHTF stood for. A quick search led me to shtfplan.com, specifically this article's comment section. Holy cow these people make youtube commenters look peace nobel prize winners.

[daymare]

Aw shucks (blush). Well thanks guys but it probably would be a very short interview since I really haven't done most of the things others have done here (investment-wise). Just pretty much lived below my means and saved the rest. The end :-)!

You know what -- I think there are plenty more interesting things to talk about that just investments.  It would be REEALLY interesting to me to hear about your life post-retirement, who you spend time with, how that affects dating.  So - more of the 'life after financial independence', and less about how you got there.  I would really love to hear from a woman - it kindof bums me out that pretty much all of the guests are men, and even all the couples, it's pretty much just the guys speaking (except for the bus couple).  So just another +1!

[TrulyStashin]

+ 1 to spartana!

And to more women on the show, in general. 

[RoseRelish]

I was sort of already avoiding RPF because the release of new shows was too random. It felt that Joshua promised a frequent and/or daily show, but always disappointed. And always made excuses. Even this most recent episode on his website says he doesn't have a computer right now...I'd be quite dissatisfied if I was a Patron of the show.

When he said he'd stop holding back his personal views, I didn't think it would turn into a preaching show. I would have thought holding back personal views could have been done under his original format - but this new preaching style is not what I signed up for.

Best of luck, Joshua, and farewell. I have listened to your interview with Pat Schulte of Bumfuzzle at least a hundred times. It's the longest interview with him that I've found and has been inspirational for me when I need to refocus on taking the plunge into early retirement and dealing with fear. Your long interviews were always my favorite episodes. It's rare to find an hour plus of audio content with some of the folks you interviewed.

[Fomerly known as something]

I had just heard about him on another pod cast an subscribed but I didn't realize I would get a political/religious podcast disguised as a financial pod cast which doesn't interest me as much.  I also unsubscribed.  I think I'll go back and look at earlier episodes that might look interesting because it sounds like his previous ones were more focused on actual finance ideas.

[aperture]

Neverrun, suggest you search Reddit for a past thread on the radical personal finance podcast. There are lists of peoples' favorites that are 100% good. Like you I find that RPF is hit/miss and sometimes pretty far afield from my values/interests.
I would love to hear peoples' recent favorite episodes if any hav reccomendations. Thanks, ap

[oneyear]

What a timely post..

I've been an advocate for RPF from the moment I binged on every podcast. I've recommended at least 20 people listen to it for sound advice on financial planning for all ages. Joshua if you are reading this, more frequent practical advice and interviews with those who re achieving their own FI version is what we want to hear about.

I listened to the Binge podcast prior to listening as to why Joshua was taking the filter off. I couldn't believe how preachy it became overnight and it really turned me off the show. The follow up podcasts follow a similar vein and even the episode with the Financial Samurai sounded argumentative for the sake of it.

You have created an amazing brand and I hope it all works for you, as the work you are putting into the business is fantastic and should be rewarded. However the segmentation of your market by imposing your "filterless" content has in my opinion created a brand I no longer want to be associated with. From the above posts, I don't seem to be alone.

[tj]

The recent episode "My Biggest Financial Mistakes: Pursuing a Lifestyle of Leisure" is a bit different.

http://radicalpersonalfinance.libsyn.com/my-biggest-financial-mistakes-pursuing-a-lifestyle-of-leisure

[clarkfan1979]

The recent episode "My Biggest Financial Mistakes: Pursuing a Lifestyle of Leisure" is a bit different.

http://radicalpersonalfinance.libsyn.com/my-biggest-financial-mistakes-pursuing-a-lifestyle-of-leisure

I had a phone conversation set up with him in June 2015 about maybe being a guest on his show. I had to cancel because I was busy with the logistics of moving from Florida to Hawaii. I took a job in Hawaii.

During our text exchange he kind of made fun of me for moving so much. I have a Ph.D. and teach college. It's pretty common to move to different states for a grad program and then your first couple of academic jobs.

Around this same time on his show, he talked about how he was selling his house in Florida in 2015, because it no longer made sense to have it because it appreciated so much in value. I decided to keep my house in Florida and rent it out. I bought mine in 2012 for 95K. At the time in 2015, it was probably worth 175K. Now in January 2022, it's worth 350K.

I listened to his podcast about his biggest regrets. It was interesting to listen to him talk about how he regrets not buying more real estate as a primary residence and then transition it to a rental. That's what I was doing at the time and he was super judgmental about it in 2015.

I pretty much stopped listening to his podcast in 2016/2017 because of the personal judgments, some of which were incorrect. I really enjoyed his stuff from 2014 to 2015. He was much more humble back then and just trying to learn from his guests. I enjoyed that much more. 

 

[RobertFromTX]

I hope he finds whatever he's looking for. Internally, I would bet, he has more questions than he has answers.