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#618: How to Retire at 50 While Supporting Aging Parents, with Frank Vasquez

Frank Vasquez watched his parents, ages 91 and 96, struggle financially in retirement.

They were immigrants. His dad was a physician. They raised five kids. They retired in the early 1990’s. But by 2009, they ran out of money.

When Frank was 45, in 2009, his parents would call asking for money to help make ends meet.

This reality hit Frank hard and sparked a decade-long quest to crack the code on sustainable retirement withdrawals.

At age 45, Frank set an ambitious goal: retire in his early 50’s while still supporting his parents financially.

The problem? Most financial experts simply told people to spend less rather than optimize their portfolios for higher withdrawal rates. Frank wasn’t satisfied with that answer.

You’ll hear how Frank discovered that many retirees leave money on the table by holding too much cash or following overly conservative allocation models.

Through extensive research, he found a sweet spot for stock allocation that maximizes safe withdrawal rates — something most traditional advisors miss entirely.

Frank walks us through his approach to portfolio construction, explaining why he believes in balancing growth and value stocks while keeping bonds limited to US treasuries for recession protection.

He breaks down the math behind safe withdrawal rates and reveals why property taxes pose a hidden threat to retirement security as home values climb.
You’ll learn about risk parity strategies, macro allocation principles, and why diversification across uncorrelated assets creates more stability than traditional 60/40 portfolios.

The conversation covers Frank’s Golden Ratio Portfolio, a structured approach to asset allocation designed specifically for the retirement drawdown phase.
Frank figured out how to fix what went wrong with his parents’ retirement. His approach could help you avoid the same mistakes.

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#617: Q&A: We Just Had a Baby and Lost Half Our Income

Austin and his wife are worried about moving to a single-income household while supporting two kids. Should they free up cash flow by paying off a car loan, or tighten up and stay the course?

Paul has been retired for seven years, but still can’t shake his anxiety about not having enough. Is there a […]

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#616: How Hackers Are Stealing Your Retirement $50 at a Time, with former CIA hacker Dr. Eric Cole

Two school teachers in Ohio saved their entire lives for one dream — buying a farm.

When they inherited $1.3 million and found the perfect property for $1.2 million, everything seemed perfect.

Five days before closing, they received what looked like a legitimate email from their closing company with wire transfer instructions. They sent the money and showed up at closing, only to discover they’d been scammed.

The email was fake, sent by hackers who had infiltrated the closing company’s servers for months, waiting for exactly this type of high-value cash deal.

That story comes from cybersecurity expert Dr. Eric Cole, who joins us to explain why ordinary people have become prime targets for cybercriminals.
Cole, a former CIA hacker who served as cybersecurity commissioner under President Barack Obama and advises high-profile clients including Bill Gates’ personal estate, has a message: if you think you’re too small to be targeted, you’re wrong.

While billion-dollar companies deploy teams of 60 cybersecurity professionals, you have virtually no protection.

Criminals know this. They’re not trying to steal $100 million from one person anymore — they’re stealing $50 from thousands of people every month.

You probably won’t notice the small amounts vanishing from your accounts. Cole calls it “death by a thousand cuts,” and it’s happening right now.

We talk through the most common attacks targeting your money. Bank hacking is simpler than most people realize. All criminals need is your account number — printed on every check you write — and your password. With that information, they can often perform electronic fund transfers of up to 50 percent of your account balance without triggering alerts.

We also cover the China-TikTok connection, secure messaging options, and why Cole helped configure President Obama’s smartphone to connect to fake cell towers that masked his actual location.

Cole’s bottom line: cybersecurity isn’t just for tech companies anymore. Criminals are targeting ordinary people because we’re easier prey than heavily protected corporations. Your money is under threat. Here’s how to protect it.

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#615: Q&A: We Saved $1.2 Million But We’re Still Renting. Should We Buy?

Emily is nervous that buying their first home will derail her family’s journey to financial independence. What’s the smartest way to deploy their savings and stay on track?

Based on cap rate calculations, Paul’s real estate investments have appreciated beyond their sensible holding point. Should he sell his assets, or is there more to consider here?

Mike is recently retired while his wife still works. With a paid-off home and healthcare already taken care of, what are best practices for drawing down an investment portfolio?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these three questions in today’s episode.

Enjoy!

P.S. Got a question? Leave it here.

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#613: Rachel Rodgers: This Multimillionaire Started With $330,000 in Debt and a $41,000 Salary

Rachel Rodgers graduated from law school with $330,000 in student loans. Her starting salary? Just $41,000.

Most people would have accepted this crushing debt-to-income ratio. They’d slowly chip away at payments for decades. Rodgers had a different plan.

She deferred her loans and started her own virtual law practice in 2008 — during the recession, when jobs were scarce and most lawyers were struggling to find work.

Her mom thought she was crazy.

Her first year, she made around $65,000 in gross revenue with only $300 in overhead costs. By year two, she was earning $300,000.

The key to her success wasn’t cutting expenses or living on rice and beans. Rodgers focused entirely on earning more money.

We talk about the practical steps she took to scale her business.

She waited until hitting $250,000 in annual revenue before bringing on her first full-time employee — an administrative assistant who immediately paid for herself by responding to client inquiries faster than Rodgers could manage alone.

Rodgers also shares insights from a CEO’s perspective on what employees should know when asking for a raise.

Understand your company’s goals. Know your boss’s pain points. When you spot a problem, bring three solutions — not just the issue. She usually goes with whatever option her team recommends.

“You are the asset,” she explains. This mindset applies whether you’re an entrepreneur or an employee trying to maximize your career potential.

Our interview covers her transition from solopreneur to multimillion-dollar business owner, her approach to leading employees, and her philosophy on building wealth through entrepreneurship rather than cost-cutting.

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#612: How to Know If You’re Cut Out for Entrepreneurship Before You Risk Everything, with Grant Sabatier

Grant Sabatier never worked in retail, never worked in a bookstore, and had no idea what he was doing when he opened Clintonville Books in Columbus, Ohio.

But that’s exactly the point.

The experiment required 1,200 hours of solo work — measuring spaces, moving 40,000 books, and navigating city regulations.

But it taught him something crucial: even experienced entrepreneurs face steep learning curves when they try something new.

The serial entrepreneur and author of “Inner Entrepreneur” joins us to share his unconventional journey from online businesses to brick-and-mortar retail.
He also explains why he believes everyone will become an entrepreneur within the next decade — whether they want to or not.

We dive deep into Sabatier’s framework for the four stages of entrepreneurship.

The first stage is experimental — you’re figuring out how entrepreneurship feels and testing ideas with minimal risk. Most people skip the crucial research phase and invest too much money too quickly.

The second stage focuses on building sustainable systems as a solopreneur. Thanks to AI and modern tools, Sabatier launched a new website in 10 minutes recently — something that would have taken two weeks just five years ago.

Stage three involves intentional growth. Sabatier warns against the common trap of scaling rapidly without considering how you want entrepreneurship to fit into your life.

The final stage is empire entrepreneurship — using cash flow from successful businesses to acquire other companies rather than investing in traditional assets like stocks or real estate.

Throughout our conversation, we explore the most common reasons businesses fail, how to avoid fragmented attention, and why Sabatier believes your story is your competitive advantage in an AI-driven world.

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#611: Q&A: “Is It REALLY Different This Time?”

With the state of the world changing so rapidly, Lesley is struggling to accept that “this time isn’t different.” Does the past still reliably inform the present in the face of major decisions today?

An anonymous caller and her husband want to achieve financial independence through real estate within 10 years. Is it better to pay off existing mortgages or prioritize buying more rentals?

Melanie feels duped by the FICO credit scoring system. She’s doing all the right things, but her credit score is still moving in the wrong direction. What’s going on here?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these three questions in today’s episode.

Enjoy!

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#610: Your Goals Might Be Killing You (Literally), with Sebastien Page

In 2005, Sebastien Page nearly died from a mysterious bacterial infection that doctors couldn’t diagnose for a week.

A single observant physician noticed cuts on his toes from running in wet terrain and connected the dots.

The experience forced Page to confront mortality — and completely changed how he thinks about goals.

Page, the chief investment officer at T. Rowe Price and author of The Psychology of Leadership, joins us to share why traditional goal-setting might be sabotaging your happiness.

He explains how 80 percent of millennials say they just want to get rich, and 50 percent want to become famous.

But research from Harvard’s 80-year longitudinal study reveals something surprising: people who climbed the social ladder weren’t meaningfully happier than those who struggled financially.

The real predictor of long-term happiness? The quality of your relationships with others.

We explore the dark side of goals through a concept called “goal-induced blindness.”

Page uses Mount Everest as an example — climbers have a 4 percent chance of dying, the same odds as eating four poisoned gummies out of 100. Yet people still attempt the summit because they become blinded by the goal itself.

Page shares his own experience with goal-induced blindness during his demanding career in money management. The relentless travel and pressure contributed to his near-fatal infection in 2005. He learned that working less actually made him more productive.

We dive into Page’s framework called the “three Cs”: core beliefs, curves, and control theory.

Core beliefs are the filters through which you interpret the world — like whether you trust people or believe money should be spent versus saved.

Curves refer to stress management, based on research showing optimal performance doesn’t happen at zero stress.

Control theory teaches you when to exercise “strategic patience” versus making quick decisions.

Page also introduces the PERMA framework from positive psychology: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. He calls the last four “proteins for your soul,” while positive emotions are more like a sugar high.

The discussion covers practical applications for everything from hiring decisions to relationship choices, using mathematical concepts like net present value to make better life decisions.

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#609: Q&A: How Not To Screw Up Retirement Spending

Eva is approaching financial independence, but she’s worried about messing up the transition. How does she set her portfolio up for success during the drawdown years of early retirement?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I deep-dive into this question in today’s episode.

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