008: Taking Risks and Making Extra Money with Kyle Taylor, The Penny Hoarder

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Who is The Penny Hoarder?

Alright, let’s meet today’s Master of Money. Kyle Taylor is the CEO and founder of The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites with over 14 million readers a month.

Kyle is a friend and go-to guy when it comes to ways to make extra money. Not only does his site cover this topic extremely well, he’s actually done a lot of these crazy make money ideas himself. Kyle and I are in a business mastermind together so you’ll have to excuse the fact that we end up talking a little business too.

Listen on to find out about Kyle’s long list of things he’s done to make extra money, how he saved his first $1,000, paid off $50,000 in student loan debt, and what he’s doing with his money and lifestyle now that his business makes over seven figures. Stick around after the interview for my biggest takeaways.

Listen to This Episode with Kyle Taylor

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I hope you enjoyed that. A big thank you to Kyle for giving us the gold today.

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Show Notes

[1:55] – Taking risks and not setting limits in business.
[2:55] – How risk taking translates to his personal finances.
[3:30] – Where Kyle keeps his savings.
[5:00] – How he moves past his comfort zone.
[7:15] – Why he’s building out a traditional office space vs virtual.
[9:05] – When Kyle decided to become a master of his money.
[10:15] – Some of his financial mistakes through college, first job, and handling debt.
[12:05] – Kyle’s first goal of saving $1,000 and how he did it on $10/hr.
[13:30] – The second goal of paying off $50,000 in debt in 3 years.
[14:30] – Blogging and side income as a fast-track to debt reduction.
[15:55] – Making money beer auditing and mystery shopping.
[18:00] – What he did when he got rid of the debt and the tools he used to manage his money.
[20:30] – Did his lifestyle inflate when he paid off the debt?
[21:20] – Buying his first house.
[22:00] – Ways Kyle made extra money during his debt pay down.
[23:05] – How to find ways to make extra money.
[25:10] – Getting a job in political campaigns.
[26:45] – Investing while paying off debt and now that he’s debt free.
[28:45] – Getting comfortable hiring employees and advisors.
[29:45] – Personal finance goals as a successful business owner.
[32:00] – Looking back and feeling proud.

Show Sponsor

This episode was sponsored by our guide to figuring out where to get your taxes done. In a recent article, I outline this decision, including the different prices for each service. Head to ptmoney.com/where-to-get-taxes-done/ to check it out.

Links/Terms/Concepts from the Show

• Emerging Markets
• ETFs
• Index Funds
• ThePennyHoarder.com
• Cheryl Sandberg – Lean In
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Emergency Fund
• How to Blog
• Adsense
• Sponsored Posts
• Beer Audits
• Mystery Shopping
• Quicken
• How to Balance a Checkbook
• Down Payment
• Movie Preview Auditor
• Retail Arbitrage
• Furbies
• Craigslist Gigs
• Work at The Penny Hoarder

3 Takeaways from My Interview with Kyle

1. Hire your professional help.

Treat professional help, like a financial advisor, as if you’re hiring an employee. You have to first test the relationship. Work on a freelance basis before you completely trust them. Did you know? Many CFPs will work with you on a one-time consultation basis? You don’t have to commit to letting them completely manage your money right away. I did this once with a local CFP and shared my experience online.

2. “There was only so much I could cut.”

Kyle was determined to fix his financial life starting with the $1,000 emergency fund. You heard him, he was living free mostly, so he couldn’t cut expenses anymore. He turned to strategic (oftentimes weird and radical ways) to bring in extra income. This effort eventually led him to start the blog, a decision that’s changed his life. Ask yourself this question..have you cut as much as you can? Is it time to think about the income side of the equation?

3. Schedule some time routinely to check up on your finances.

Kyle had what he called “Financial Sundays.” Do you have a regularly scheduled time to look at the finances? If not, go to your calendar now and put a recurring item on it. Wondering what to review during this check-up? I’ve got just the article for you. I’ve written a piece called 31 Days to Improve Your Financial Life. It’s designed to be tackled one day at a time. Nothing wrong with taking one day a week to do this. You can download it in PDF format as well.

Full Transcript

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This show is part of the FinCon Podcast Network and was produced by Steve Stewart.