Explore every episode of the podcast Financially Independent Teachers
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EP 220-Retired Single NC Teacher Discusses Regrets and Post Teaching Career | 15 Jun 2025 | 00:55:15 | |
Stephanie taught English for 30+ years in North Carolina. Unfortunately, throughout most of her career, she was not privy to financial literacy. Did she invest? If so, how much and in what? How is she making it in retirement off of her NC pension? As the saying goes "hindsight is 20/20"...what advice would she give to teachers who are currently working to prepare for life after education? Tune in to hear her story! | |||
| EP 219-Practicing "Mini Retirements" with Jillian Johnsrud | 08 Jun 2025 | 00:44:38 | |
In this conversation, Jillian and Dave discuss the concept of mini retirements and how they can lead to a fulfilling lifestyle while pursuing financial independence. They discuss "mini retirements" throughout your career, emphasizing the importance of taking breaks, traveling, and spending quality time family. We explore the challenges and benefits of unconventional choices, the gradual transition to early retirement, and the value of practicing mini retirements to prepare for a fulfilling post-work life. Surprise...teachers are uniquely equipped to give this practice a shot, EVERY SUMMER! Here are some of the links that she might have mentioned based on the direction our conversation during the show:
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| EP 210-Is the Sky Falling? What Can I Control During This Rough Market Week (David Gourley) | 06 Apr 2025 | 00:50:27 | |
What a crazy week! The stock market is down around 10%...should I keep investing? Should I sell? What can I control when we face these uncertain times? Former teacher and current financial advisor, David Gourley joins us on the show, almost in REAL TIME to discuss! David is a former coach and high school math teacher, helping teachers from around the country build their financial foundation and grow their wealth. Check out David's website below! | |||
| EP 120-Will Required Financial Literacy Grad Requirements Make a Difference? | 25 Jun 2023 | 00:40:55 | |
Brandon just spent 40 hours training NC teachers on how to be an effective classroom teacher in the area of personal finance and economics. Were the teachers receptive? Does Brandon think it will "work" with students? Dave has been teaching the course for two years and he shares his thoughts as well as a few student success stories. Almost half of the US is now REQUIRING students to take a personal finance course to graduate. | |||
| EP 119-Retired TX Teacher- FIVE MILLION Dollar Net Worth Lives in 1500 Sq Foot Home | 18 Jun 2023 | 00:45:41 | |
Greg is a 55-year-old retired teacher/coach from Texas who has a 5 million dollar net worth. Greg has had multiple stints in education over the course of a 20 year teacher. During a large part of his teaching career, Greg also served in the Air Force Reserves. Greg and his wife have owned less than 10 cars (combined) in their lives and are raising their family of four in a 1500 sq foot home. Greg is the classic "Millionaire Next Door." | |||
| EP 118-Retired Educator Starts Second Career to Make Up For Lost Opportunities | 11 Jun 2023 | 00:51:24 | |
The best day to start investing was yesterday. The next best day to invest is today! At FIT, we believe teachers should begin with the end in mind and reverse engineer their career. Knowing your projected SS, pension and other retirement numbers will help shine the light to a bright retirement. What IF you have never taken the time to do this? What IF you have ZERO dollars invested for retirement and no nest egg for your future? In this episode, Rich shows us how a teacher with no retirement and debt can head into retirement and STILL be successful. No, it wasn't due to prior "Bridge" planning like a 457(b) or rental real estate...Rich used his skills as a teacher, retired at 50 and started an entirely new career. Now, Rich is on the path to being a net worth millionaire at 62 years old. | |||
| EP 117-American Teacher Living In France Via Sabbatical | 04 Jun 2023 | 00:57:55 | |
Eric learned about hard work as child, growing up as the son of small business owners of a restaurant in Cape Cod. Frugality has been a way of life for Eric as he has taken his bike to work, had roommates and packed lunches to save money. After college, Eric moved to Europe for a period of time and is currently in France on sabbatical from his teaching job. This fall, Eric heads back to the US and will be getting back in the American classroom as a foreign language teacher. | |||
| EP 116-NC Math Teacher Side Hustling- Moves Into Camper To Save Thousands | 28 May 2023 | 00:40:05 | |
Chad has been teaching math for almost a decade in North Carolina. He is a Marine Corps Veteran and has spent many years in the private sector before getting into teaching. Chad isn't worried about net worth millionaire status but is choosing to live his rich life traveling and spending time with his family. With the real estate market being hot, Chad and his wife decided to sell and cash out while they could. Instead of renting for years, they made the decision to purchase a camper that they can one day rent out. In addition to teaching, Chad's side hustle pressure washing business makes him over 3k extra per month. | |||
| EP 115-From 460k In Debt While Subbing To Becoming Debt Free! | 21 May 2023 | 00:35:53 | |
Jade and her Husband Sam married in 2007, one week after college graduation. They had $280K just in student loans! In addition, they also had credit cards, two cars we couldn’t afford, and a small townhome to round it out. But in 2008, they started listening to The Ramsey Show and learned all about the Baby Steps and what we needed to do to become debt-free. It took them a while to shake their old habits, but once they truly got fired up, they did whatever they could to earn more money—from substitute teaching, to teaching voice lessons, to designing websites, to hosting jet ski tours, to working at a vinyl tint and lettering garage. They even house hacked and sacrificed personal space by getting roommates. | |||
| EP 114-Reintroducing The Hosts- Dave and Brandon | 14 May 2023 | 00:33:24 | |
Dave and Brandon started the FIT podcast a little over two years ago. We had no idea if the show would last 10 episodes, let alone 100+ with a book coming out this summer! As the show has grown and we have picked up many listeners, we felt like it was important to share a little about our own money journey and the WHY behind FIT. Thanks for being a part of the FIT Family! | |||
| EP 113-Retired NC Educator Has Done It All! | 07 May 2023 | 01:01:34 | |
Patricia Saylor is the founder of Saylor Financial Fundamentals, and author of The Novice Investor's Guide to Stocks, Funds and Options. making stock market investing accessible for novice investors. She is also the Head of School at Solterra Way Cottage School, providing educational assessments and academic support to private students. Patricia is a lifetime educator. After her retirement from a 30-year career as a public school teacher and administrator, she grew both of her small businesses from side hustles to main gigs. She has an MA in Linguistics from Gallaudet University and a BA in Spanish and Education from UNC-Chapel Hill. She is conversant in Spanish and fluent in American Sign Language. | |||
| EP 112-HS Teacher (Alaska) has 200k Net Worth @ 32 Years Old | 30 Apr 2023 | 00:55:55 | |
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| EP 111-Urgent Student Loan Update With David Gourley-May 1st Deadline | 23 Apr 2023 | 00:42:18 | |
David is back to discuss some important info regarding the most recent updates with student loan relief. David came from a two teacher household. When he started getting serious about our finances, he didn’t know where to turn. One advisor that we reached out to had a minimum of $250,000. Another worked for one of the high cost 403b companies that wanted to his family into an annuity for their retirement account. David left teaching to help other teachers because navigating the financial world alone can be challenging. One giant piece of that puzzle for many teachers is having student loans. David has gone through extensive training to be able to serve teachers with great care in handling their personal situation! Sign up for David’s newsletter! | |||
| EP 209-NC Econ and Personal Finance Teacher Applying Lessons In Her Life! | 30 Mar 2025 | 00:44:06 | |
Allison has been a history teacher in NC for over a decade. Currently, she is teaching at a Charlotte area Early College and has taken on the task of learning new curriculum by teaching NC's new EPF course. The theme of Allison's story is resilience! Like many, she has regrets on how she used her student loans in college and has worked hard to overcome her mistakes. From credit card debt, and student loans to co-signing on a student loan for a former partner, Allison's pre EPF life gives her lots of content to share in class. Now, Allison has opened some high yield savings accounts, mastered a budget with her irregular income earning husband, started investing, improved what she calls her "tanking" credit score, and is a go to for colleagues to learn from. Her future is bright as she can see the light, even as a teacher in NC! | |||
| EP 110-Dave Ramsey's Daughter, Rachel Cruze Is Here! | 16 Apr 2023 | 00:45:38 | |
Rachel Cruze, NYT best selling author and daughter of Dave Ramsey joins FIT to discuss teachers, habits of frugality, fearlessness, and being a lifelong learner. | |||
| EP 109-How Do You Know It's Time To Retire? | 09 Apr 2023 | 00:48:57 | |
Teachers, we often dream of the day that we are eligible for our pension and can retire. Our guest (Fritz) wasn't a teacher but both of his parents were educators. Fritz started early retirement in June 2018 at the age of 55, and he is passionate about the lessons he has learned along the way. Fritz and his wife sold their primary home “in the city” and moved into a cabin in the North Georgia mountains as part of their downsizing strategy for retirement: Retirement In The Blue Ridge Mountains Fritz has received recognition his blog from various organizations.
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| EP 108-Ramsey Personality K.Ellis Talks Being Fearless + Being a Life Long Learner = Success | 02 Apr 2023 | 00:31:09 | |
Author and Ramsey personality, Kristina Ellis is back on the show! Kristina is here to discuss the three imperatives of our upcoming book. Be Frugal. Be Fearless. Be a Lifelong Learner. | |||
| EP 107-Best Selling Author JL Collins Is Back To Talk Teachers | 26 Mar 2023 | 00:59:15 | |
JL is considered by many to be the "Godfather" of the Financial Independence movement and is the author of The Simple Path to Wealth. It has sold over 400,000 copies and has been published in Korean, Japanese and German. Deals are signed to publish it in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Russia, Poland, Spain, Brazil and in Arabic. His second book, How I Lost Money in Real Estate Before it was Fashionable, released in November 2021 and his next book project, announced here is due out in 2023. The working title is Pathfinders: Traveler’s Tales from the Simple Path to Wealth https://jlcollinsnh.com/ | |||
| EP 106-NC Teacher + Husband Cop = $450k Net Worth | 19 Mar 2023 | 00:59:25 | |
A decade ago, Brooke (35) and her law enforcement husband (42) had to finance a lawn mower and AC unit because they didn't have the money to pay cash. Today, their net worth is quickly approaching 500k. To supplement her income, Brooke pursued and received her National Board Teaching Certification (6K a year raise) and started an online Etsy store. Even though they have three kids under 12, Brooke and her husband are on pace to be multi-millionaires before they reach 65 years old. As an NC teacher, Brooke actually makes more than her husband but that hasn't slowed this NC couple down! | |||
| EP 105-What Would You Do With An Extra 10k Per Year With Nick Loper | 12 Mar 2023 | 00:36:06 | |
Nick Loper has been out of the rate race of "work" for over a decade. Now, Nick helps coach others to follow their passion and learn how to make money with their skills. Nick hosts "The Side Hustle Show" and it is a top-rated podcast featuring the ideas, actions, and results you need to start and grow a successful business. | |||
| EP 104- "The Millionaire Teacher" Andrew Hallam Has 2.5 Million Net Worth | 05 Mar 2023 | 00:45:06 | |
Andrew Hallam is the international best-selling author of Balance: How to Invest and Spend for Happiness, Health and Wealth; Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School and Millionaire Expat: How To Build Wealth Living Overseas. Profiled on such media as CNBC, and The Wall Street Journal, he's also the first person to have a #1 selling finance book on Amazon USA, Amazon Canada and Amazon UAE. | |||
| EP 103-What Would Life Look Like If You Knew Then What You Know Now? Tim Ranzetta Next Gen Personal Finance | 26 Feb 2023 | 00:45:57 | |
Next Gen's mission is that every U.S. high school student will graduate having taken a one-semester course in personal finance by 2030, they started in just one high school: Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, CA in 2010. Tim is an entrepreneur with a passion for education. Tim volunteered to create and teach a personal finance program from scratch at ECP. After witnessing firsthand the multigenerational impact that a personal finance course could have, he wanted to share with a wider audience. In 2014, NGPF decided that every single student deserves high-quality personal finance instruction. From Day 1, they made sure every NGPF service would be free so cost could never prevent learning. Since then, NGPF has built an unstoppable team! Their small but mighty team of outstanding former educators creates engaging curriculum and facilitates professional development that honors and respects teachers. | |||
| EP 102-Net Worth of 4 Million at 36, Jeremy Teaches You How To Do It! | 19 Feb 2023 | 00:48:32 | |
Jeremy Schneider retired at 36 and currently has a net worth of over $4 million. Now, Jeremy has turned into a TEACHER of personal finance to show others how you can do it, too! | |||
| EP 101-Dave Ramsey Personality George Kamel Is Back! | 12 Feb 2023 | 00:43:42 | |
Ramsey Personality, George Kamel joins the show to talk about teachers, frugality and building wealth! | |||
| EP 208-Paul (OH) Science Teacher to AP to His Own School to HR | 23 Mar 2025 | 00:41:43 | |
Paul has been a dedicated public educator for over 24 years. His goal is to blend the love for education with a passion about finances to help lay out a strategic plan to assist teachers with their retirement goals. Many financial advisors and supplemental retirement plans have both outrageously high fees mixed with limited knowledge about Ohio (or other state) pension plans. Paul believes that teachers deserve fair, specific and detailed assistance from someone who understands the profession. Listen in as Paul shares his journey from investing as a teen to now assisting his district with low cost investing options like Vanguard for his teachers. In addition, Paul is speaking to prospective teachers at local colleges and sharing financial independence so they don't make the mistakes that most of us made starting out! CONTACT PAUL: | |||
| EP 100-Big Announcements For Episode 100! | 05 Feb 2023 | 00:46:21 | |
Dave and Brandon hit TRIPLE DIGITS as we hit the big 100! Listen in for the three big announcements we have for 2021. Thank you to everyone who has helped make FIT grow and become what it has turned into so far. Now, the march to 200! | |||
| EP 99-How Much Do Teachers REALLY Deserve (Pay)? | 29 Jan 2023 | 00:49:25 | |
Teachers, I think we can all agree that we would like to get paid MORE! However, what is realistic and how do we differentiate between educators who are highly effective or just skating by? | |||
| EP 98-Texas Personal Finance Teacher Transforms His Money Situation By Becoming An Educator | 22 Jan 2023 | 00:49:42 | |
Ryan is an 11th year teacher in Dallas, TX who started his career in the hospitality industry. Long and late nights and weekends inspired Ryan to make the move into education and start his career over. After starting his adult life with over 50k in debt, Ryan and his wife are now on track to be net worth millionaires. Tune in to see how Mr. Cruz's teaching of Dave Ramsey's Foundations course for high school students changed his life as an educator, inspiring him to lead by example and practice what he was preaching in class. | |||
| EP 97-NC School Counselor and Teacher Husband Paid off 25K Debt-Transition to Wealth Building Mode! | 15 Jan 2023 | 00:57:41 | |
Catie and her husband Chris both work in the education field in North Carolina. How can a NC educator couple with two kids give, pay off debt and build wealth? Tune in as Catie shares the inspiring story of her and her teacher husband BOTH losing their jobs on the same day during the economic recession of 2008-2010, side hustles, house hacking, near death Covid experience AND paying off 25k in debt. | |||
| EP 96-We're Back! Season 3 Starts NOW! | 08 Jan 2023 | 01:02:40 | |
We are thrilled to be back for Season #3 in 2023! Dave and Brandon chat about the previous season and how to look at your finances via percentages as a framework to have a better understanding of where your money is going. | |||
| EP 95-Final Episode with Justin Garritt! Participate in our Personal Finance Quiz and see how you do! | 18 Dec 2022 | 01:22:42 | |
Merry Christmas! We have an EXTRA long show for you this week! Episode #95 will be the last episode of 2022. Listen all at once or divide it into two and enjoy! Dave and Brandon welcome back a great friend to the show, Justin Garritt. Justin joined us last season for a fun and inspiring episode on next level credit card rewards hacking. Part I of this episode shares the story of Justin going from Baltimore teacher to being a financial planner who helps teachers get on track with their money. Part II is Dave, Brandon and Justin having a little fun with the audience and quizzing the listeners on some personal finance knowledge. Listen in and see how well you score! | |||
| EP 94-Expert Mortgage Lender Discusses Building Credit, Homeownership and Interest Rates | 11 Dec 2022 | 01:01:02 | |
Amy Goss is one of the top mortgage specialists in the Carolina's! Amy joins us this week to discuss a variety topics related to real estate and mortgages. A few things we touch on this episode...interest rates, how to raise your credit score, first time home buying strategies, differences in mortgage products, mistakes made when purchasing a home and how to purchase a second home or rental property. This episode is for newbies, current homeowners and individuals looking to go beyond just one property. | |||
| EP 93-Dave's Sister Joins the Show! Single and Making It As Lower Middle Earner | 04 Dec 2022 | 01:06:52 | |
Dave's older sister joins the show to talk about how her frugal and fearless views on personal finance have enabled her to have a net worth of over 300K on a salary of less than 50k per year. Her story takes us from being a first gen college student to quitting and taking on a factory job all the way to going back to college to get her degree in Business. Kathy is a major supporter of her local public schools and is a city councilwoman in her hometown in NE Ohio. | |||
| EP 92-Choir Director Cheryl's Life Turned Upside Down And Forced To Start Over At 46 | 27 Nov 2022 | 00:51:54 | |
Cheryl has been teaching for 10 years, before that, she was a married stay at home mom to four kids for 21 years. After being married over 20 years, Cheryl faced the situation of divorce. She had zero dollars in a joint checking account and over 50k consumer debt that she knew nothing about. This forced her to totally start over financially. | |||
| EP 91-CFP Talks Insurance and What To Do With Investments In Retirement | 20 Nov 2022 | 01:08:59 | |
Chip is a Raleigh, NC area CFP who grew up in a household raised by a mother who taught for over 30 years! Chip chats with us about a variety of financial topics from insurance to investment drawdown strategies. | |||
| EP 207-Top 5 Retirement Regrets With Retirement Expert Fritz Gilbert | 16 Mar 2025 | 00:48:39 | |
Fritz Gilbert is an expert in the retirement space, and he is back on FIT to discuss the Top 5 Retirement Regrets and how to not make those same mistakes. You only get one chance at retirement, let Fritz (a retiree who has intensely studied retirement) help give us all a leg up on our future! Check out his website: https://www.theretirementmanifesto.com/blog/ Be a guest on the show: | |||
| EP 90-Founder of "White Coat Investor" and Physician Jim Dahle Discusses Docs and Teachers | 13 Nov 2022 | 00:50:00 | |
In this episode, Dave and Brandon had the pleasure to chat with the "White Coat Investor", Jim Dahle. Sure, teachers deserve a pay raise and are often underappreciated in society, however, pay raises won't solve an individuals financial issues if we don't have a plan. Jim shares the mistakes of high income earning, discusses investing, pensions, the being an educator and much more! | |||
| EP 89-KY Social Studies Teacher Is Former Investment Advisor Turned Educator | 06 Nov 2022 | 01:09:00 | |
Allison started her career as an investment advisor but quickly realized she had a passion for helping and teaching people, not being a salesperson. With over 20 years of experience in the classroom, Allison and her retired firefighter husband have a net worth north of 800k and will be investing over 50k this year! Even with two teenage boys in the home, Allison's family lives off of less than 30k annually. Listen to the show to check out her amazing story! | |||
| EP 88-Connor and Danielle Share How They Operate Their Two Teacher Household Income | 30 Oct 2022 | 01:13:13 | |
Connor and Danielle are newlyweds who work and teach in the suburbs of Chicago. Both join the show to share their goals and accomplishments as they get ready to hit the ground running as they approach their 30’s. This is a great convo as they share how their two teacher household operates! | |||
| EP 87- Durham, NC Music Teacher Leaves Only to Come Back to Teaching | 23 Oct 2022 | 00:47:42 | |
Dwight is a trombonist and businessman who has traveled the world as a professional musician. In addition to his personal music skills, Dwight has also spent time in the classroom as a music teacher. Check out Dwight's story as he talks about the "Poverty Mentality" vs. a "Wealth Mentality". | |||
| EP 86- Widowed Teacher of 3 (CA) On Pace To Be Millionaire by 45 Talks Risk Management Plan | 16 Oct 2022 | 01:01:46 | |
Heather is a third gen educator who is currently teaching in California . On this episode, Heather discusses how she and her husband were not on the same financial page and how she took learning about personal finance into her own hands. Sadly, Heather's husband (also a teacher) unexpectedly passed away, leaving Heather to raise three young children on her own. Heather walks us through the process of navigating this difficult journey from being married to being a widow. | |||
| EP 85-Decoding The Language of FIT Part II-INVESTING | 09 Oct 2022 | 01:04:17 | |
In this episode, Dave and Brandon discuss some of the key terminology that teachers need to know on their path to financial independence. Investing can be a very scary and intimidating topic, we hope to make it a little more digestible with the content in this episode. Join as as we get back to the basics and define some of the most widely used investment terminology on our show. We want NO teacher to be left behind! | |||
| EP 84-First Year Australian English Teacher | 02 Oct 2022 | 00:55:43 | |
The Millionaire Math Teacher joins Dave this week as we interview Mark, an English teacher from Australia. Mark is a first year teacher, the youngest in a family raised by a single mother. Mark shares an extraordinary story as he learned frugality from his birth mother but he added some more complex money skills from his mother in law who talked to Mark about investing and the idea of being financially independent. | |||
| EP 83- NC Music Teacher Starts Own Business | 25 Sep 2022 | 00:43:53 | |
Teachers, we are more powerful than we know! Not only do teachers have skills in the classroom, many of those skills can be transferable to the private sector. On this episode, Alek shares the story of recently leaving the classroom as a NC music teacher to starting his own music academy. Check out his info below Facebook: Triad Music Academy https://www.facebook.com/triadmusicacademy Instagram: @triadmusicacademy https://www.instagram.com/triadmusicacademy/ | |||
| EP 82-Ohio Music Teacher Has 500k Invested | 18 Sep 2022 | 00:50:29 | |
Dave's cousin, Keith joins us for this episode. Single and on an Ohio teacher income, Keith has amassed over 500k in investments over the course of his veteran teaching career. How did he do it? How is Keith passing on his knowledge to his students, colleagues and his daughter? Listen in to find out! | |||
| EP 81-Florida Speech Therapist Shares Story of Family Moving to US From Eastern Europe | 11 Sep 2022 | 00:40:26 | |
There are so many individuals that make a school successful. In this episode, Dave and Brandon had the pleasure to host Sonia, a school speech therapist in Florida. Sonia’s family literally hit the lottery as they came to the US from Eastern Europe via a visa lotto program. During Covid, Sonia used social media to advance her personal finance skills and set herself up for a bright future! | |||
| Episode 206-Special Ed Admin/Teacher REWIRES Life (VA) | 09 Mar 2025 | 00:41:42 | |
Stac Be a guest on the show: | |||
| EP 80-Two Teacher PA Household Have Become Net Worth Millionaires! | 04 Sep 2022 | 00:44:14 | |
Have you ever read the book "The Millionaire Next Door"? After interviewing Tim, it makes the MND look like his autobiography. Tim and his wife were both teachers (wife still is) in Southeastern PA and have built a quality of life together on their two teacher income family. Recently, Tim resigned and stepped away from his teaching job to start a side hustle career in "retirement". Once their two teenage daughters graduate HS, the whole family will be ready to FIRE, even though Tim says he thinks they could make that happen right now if they wanted. | |||
| EP 79-Brandon and Dave Chat with Millionaire Math Teacher About EV's | 28 Aug 2022 | 00:51:29 | |
This summer, Dave and his family rented a Tesla Model 3 and drove it to Dave’s IB training in Tampa Fl. The trip was 750 miles each way and we had lots of charging stops along the way. In this episode, Dave discusses his experience driving a Tesla for the first time and the Millionaire Math Teacher joins us to talk about what his experience as a Tesla owner has been like. As more EV’s hit the road, this is an important discussion to have if you are looking at a new to you vehicle in the next 3-5 years. | |||
| Episode 78-TX Teacher/Coach Moves Into Admin | 21 Aug 2022 | 00:50:55 | |
Marlin is a former college basketball player turned teacher, coach and is now an administrator and both he and his wife are in education. Throughout the episode, Marlin shares their ups and downs on the road to freedom and financial independence. Though they've shared mistakes and successes along the way, Marlin's view on their journey is simple, "no losses, just lessons". | |||