Becoming a Financial Grownup | Bobbi Rebell - The Financial Independence Show

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In today’s episode, Cody and Justin are joined by Bobbi Rebell from the Financial Grownup Podcast and author of How to Be a Financial Grownup.

She has a really interesting beginning from the ground floor and working her way up to multiple large media outlets and building a career on camera.

Bobbi eventually saw an opportunity to step away and become her own boss which would end up being both a great financial choice and a great choice for her family.

Come listen to where she finds her inspiration and the tangible steps she took to building both a successful corporate career and a business.

Listen and follow along with the summary below and make sure to check out the links at the bottom of the page.

Episode Summary

Her dad was a Wall Street guy who would give the kids an opportunity to plan out their total expenses for a semester and they would make their request and that’d be there only chance to ask for money. (pretty awesome parenting exercise)
She admits she had a lot of fortunate events and circumstances in her life but she also has had a great work ethic and paid her dues along the way
Bobbi’s working career started with working at a bakery, wrapping presents and folding clothes before her unpaid internship at CNBC
She would come in during the middle of the night because people were a lot more likely to allow her to help and actually build a resume
When she graduated college she didn’t have any student debt which she credits to her granddad starting the trend of putting money back for her own parents’ college
Bobbi actually bought her studio apartment straight out of college at 23 in New York City and would end up flipping a couple of properties which lead to her nicer, larger apartment she owns today in NYC
That first studio was only $90k which she bought during some down years in NY real estate
- Her friend actually got a similar apartment for under $70k!
While she was making some big financial moves and making great progress, she wasn’t without fault
- She bought a $3k chair with a home equity loan but she obviously rebounded
Her career would quickly take off and she attributes it to always doing a little more than is expected and always adding skills
She actually got her CFP from NYU thanks to some of the training her job paid for
During her career, she became close with the likes of Tony Robbins and anchored shows at PBS and Reuters
There were a couple of transitions obviously in that career and she details advice on loyalty to people vs businesses and how to handle transitions
One day on a walk she decided to start a brand and write a book to help young people become financially responsible grown-ups
Through the process, she was transparent with her company about her eventual transition
The transition was a big one as she had three kids and a lot of groundwork to build for her business but she took a thorough approach over a three year period
A big tip she gave us was to see if your company offers buy-outs for your job before you simply quit
- After agreeing to a slight delay in leaving, she did get a pretty nice buyout
We then jump into some rituals and habits that keep her motivated and to help avoid burnout with such a high energy personality
After making her transition, she realized that it really wouldn’t take that much money on the side to make it a smart decision because of how expensive it was to work and raise children
- With this entrepreneur ventures, she doesn’t pay for childcare and she can write off a decent amount of things as business expenses
While she felt comfortable that she’d be able to make enough money on the side, she was surprised at what ended up being the most profitable
Her favorite and most profitable part of her work is doing sponsored content for different brands
On top of that, she MCs events, wrote a book, has two podcasts…. and more!
Now she’s about to release another book on raising your own kids to be financial grownups

Key Takeaways

Hard work separates: It’s clear to see that all the extra time Bobbi put into her craft is what put her on such a good career path
Give yourself creative space: Bobbi talks about her walks in central park and the ideas that come to her. Give yourself some time to step away from the computer and just relax and let inspiration come to you
Build your transition early: Even if you’re not sure you want to transition to something else, it’s always great to start building a path and contingencies in case that day comes and do so early

Call to Action

Find a ritual that involves some quite time and let your creativity do its thing. Heck, even if you’re not looking for your next great idea we could all use less time in front of a screen

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