Are You Headed for FIRE or the Middle-Class Trap? (Finance Friday)

BiggerPockets Money Podcast

BiggerPockets

Investing, Education, Business

4.6 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If there’s an issue that keeps aspiring early retirees up at night, it’s the dreaded middle-class trap. At just 28 years old, this financially savvy couple is already looking for ways to avoid this issue. Whether you’re just starting your FIRE journey or approaching early retirement, we’ll show you how to do the same in today’s episode! Welcome back to the BiggerPockets Money podcast! So far, Leah and Zach Landis are doing everything right. They earn high incomes, they spend very little, and they invest the difference. Well on their way to retiring early, they plan to quit their jobs by age 45 or sooner! But will their current asset allocation get in the way of their big goal? What kind of bridge will they need to tide them over until traditional retirement age? Will having children impact their financial freedom? Fortunately, Leah and Zach have all kinds of options. Tune in as Scott and Mindy dive into the couple’s budget and discuss their best path forward. Along the way, we’ll debate whether they should pause their 401(k) contributions, double down on brokerage accounts, and deploy their cash savings on their “dream” home! In This Episode We Cover Breaking down Leah and Zach’s best path to FIRE by 45 (or sooner!) The middle-class trap explained and how to avoid (or escape) it The BEST ways to invest your cash and make it work harder for you How much you should expect to pay in taxes once you reach retirement When to stop growing your 401(k) plan (and where to invest instead) And So Much More! Links from the Show Mindy on BiggerPockets Scott on BiggerPockets Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place Join BiggerPockets for FREE Email Mindy: [email protected] Email Scott: [email protected] BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group Follow BiggerPockets Money on Instagram “Like” BiggerPockets Money on Facebook BiggerPockets Money YouTube Channel BiggerPockets Money 219 - Syndications: Everything You Need to Know BEFORE You Invest Maximize Your Real Estate Investing with a Self-Directed IRA from Equity Trust Get $100 Off Your Tickets to BPCON2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada Buy the Book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” Sign Up for the BiggerPockets Money Newsletter Find an Investor-Friendly Agent in Your Area BiggerPockets Money 456 - The Harsh Reality Real Estate Syndications (and Investors) Face in 2024 Connect with Leah Connect with Zach (00:00) Intro (01:05) Leah & Zach’s Money Journey (08:20) Money Snapshot (12:27) Buying the “Dream” Home (18:33) Best Ways to Invest Cash (26:51) Avoiding the Middle-Class Trap (36:28) Maxing Out the 401(k) & HSA (47:06) Don’t Get Trapped! Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/money-613 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Today's Finance Friday guests are hoping to retire by the age of 45. Their biggest fear,
0:05.8	getting stuck in the middle class trap. As of now, they still have a runway of about 15 years
0:10.9	so that they could avoid it. How will they do it? Scott and I are going to give them some advice
0:15.8	and give them some answers in today's episode.
0:27.0	Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast.
0:32.8	My name is Mindy Jensen, and with me as always is my analytical yet brilliant co-host, Scott Trench.
0:38.5	Thanks, Mindy. Great to be here with our model of good financial decision making, Mindy Jensen.
0:43.1	See what I did there? All right. BiggerPockets has a goal of creating one million millionaires.
0:46.4	You are in the right place if you want to get your financial house in order because we truly believe financial freedom is attainable for everyone, no matter when or where you're starting,
0:50.7	or whether you are in the grind on the journey to financial independence.
0:55.2	Leah and Zach, thank you so much for joining us here on Bigger Pockets Money. We are so excited to
0:59.0	have you. Welcome. Thank you. We're so excited to be here, both longtime listeners. So it's
1:04.4	truly a privilege. Woohoo. All right. So Leah, I'm going to start with you first. Where does
1:09.2	your journey with money begin? Yeah. So I think for me personally, I'm originally to start with you first. Where does your journey with money begin?
1:29.0	Yeah. So I think for me personally, I'm originally from upstate New York. I was raised by a single father. And I think he really instilled at us at a young age, needs versus wants. So that's kind of my first understanding of money. And he also was always working like two to three jobs growing up, trying to help us reach our goals, me and my brother. But he did set
1:34.0	expectations with us at a very young age that, although he loves us so much, when we turn 18,
1:39.4	he's like, you guys are going to financially be on your own. So knowing that from a really young
1:44.0	age,
1:44.7	I was like, okay, well, I'm really passionate about learning. I want to get an education.
1:49.0	Like, how am I going to get there? So the one way that my dad did invest in me was with sports.
1:54.0	So I was really thankful to get a full ride scholarship to University of Michigan.
1:58.4	And it was on those car rides from upstate New York to Michigan,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 21 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BiggerPockets, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BiggerPockets and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.