5 Tips to Make Better Financial Decisions

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Should you buy or lease your car? Where should you live? Is college worth it? Should you invest in stocks? If so, what kind? How much insurance do you need?

These are the kinds of decisions we face every day. And your responses can literally change your life.

Learning to make the best, most-informed decisions: That’s what we’re addressing in this podcast. Because better decision-making results in a richer you.

As usual, host Stacy Johnson is joined by financial journalist Miranda Marquit. Listening in and sometimes contributing is producer Aaron Freeman. Today’s special guest is J.D. Roth, the dean of personal finance bloggers and the founder of the popular website Get Rich Slowly.

Remember, even though we sometimes talk about money and specific investments on this show, never take them as recommendations. Before investing in anything, do your research and make your own decisions.

You can watch this episode below, or if you’d prefer to listen, you can do that with the player at the top of this article or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts:

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Don’t forget to check out our podcast page for more episodes designed to help you make the most of your money and our YouTube page for more videos.

Why is it so hard to make good money decisions?

Making good money decisions can be tough. But why?

Sometimes it’s because you haven’t thought about what matters to you. J.D. and Miranda talk about the importance of understanding your values and priorities. We also take a look at some main money mistakes we’ve made.

If you want to avoid making poor money decisions, we have some articles and podcasts about some major mistakes to avoid:

• 6 Silly Tidbits of Money Advice That Will Make You Poorer
• 7 Pieces of Common Money Advice That Can Cost You
• My 10 Dumbest Money Moves
• The Truth Behind 14 Common Money Tips
• Avoiding the 3 Biggest Money Problems Reported by Retirees
• The 10 Worst Retirement Mistakes You Can Make
• 20 Dumb Investing Moves and How to Avoid Them

If you want to learn more about the psychology of money, Miranda recommends the books “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel and “The Behavior Gap” by Carl Richards.

Tips for making better money decisions

Now that you know it’s time to do better, check out some of our resources, including articles and podcast episodes about how to change your money habits.

• 13 Ways to Improve Your Financial Decision-Making
• A Retirement Plan Is Like a Navigation System for Your Money and Time
• When to Pay for Financial Advice and How to Find the Right Adviser
• 7 Ways to Prepare to Inherit Money
• 5 Tips to Make Money Management Fun
• 7 Actions to Take Now to Get the Life You Want
• The Most Important Long-Term Financial Goal Has Nothing to Do With Money
• How to Destroy Your Debt and 3 Things to Do Next
• 10 Tips and Tricks to Help You Beef Up Your Savings
• J.D. also has an article on how to make better decisions at Get Rich Slowly.

Stacy wrote a classic, called “Life or Debt.” Check it out for more information about creating a financial freedom plan. J.D. also recommends a book he’s reading called “Designing Your Life.” Don’t forget to check out the car finder tool J.D. recommended from Consumer Reports.

Meet this week’s guest, J.D. Roth

J.D. Roth is an accidental personal finance expert. He’s a regular guy who found himself deep in debt, then decided to teach himself how to master his money — and his life. He started the award-winning GetRichSlowly.org in 2006 to document his journey.

Millions of people learned from Get Rich Slowly, as well as Roth’s book, “Your Money: The Missing Manual,” and his Audible-only course, How to Achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early.

• Website
• Twitter

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About the hosts

Stacy Johnson founded Money Talks News in 1991. He’s a CPA, and has also earned licenses in stocks, commodities, options principal, mutual funds, life insurance, securities supervisor and real estate.

Miranda Marquit, MBA, is a financial expert, writer and speaker. She’s been covering personal finance and investing topics for almost 20 years. When not writing and podcasting, she enjoys travel, reading and the outdoors.