This episode is an introduction to the Mark’s Money Mind show hosted by Mark Trautman, CFP® from Crested Butte, Colorado. He shares his passion for financial education and his plan to share timely topics, personal stories and community wisdom through his new show. Mark shares his own journey to financial independence, beginning from taking the first step of learning about personal finance through books as the internet was not popular back then. From there, he shares how he and his wife made smart financial decisions like maximizing their 401k contributions, house hacking and maintaining a minimum 20% savings rate. He talks about getting his Certified Financial Planner designation for his own knowledge and transitioning into retirement at age 50. The story takes a turn with the unfortunate cancer diagnosis of his wife and her subsequent passing. The incident made Mark realize the importance of a living a life of balance, between saving for the future and living in the present, and he encourages listeners to do the same. The goal of the show is to discuss a wide range of financial topics along with audience participation via submitted questions. Send your questions to [email protected] (put “Podcast Question” in the subject line) Episode Links: The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko Who Let That Lifestyle Creep In? Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Mark’s Money Mind 00:28 Why I Started This Podcast 00:53 My Journey to Financial Education 01:41 The Importance of Community in Financial Learning 01:58 My Experience Teaching Personal Finance 03:14 My Involvement in the Financial Independence Community 04:12 The Range of Topics We’ll Discuss 05:43 My Personal Financial Journey 12:19 The Importance of Saving and Investing 15:18 Our Experience with Housing and Debt 27:31 The Decision to Move to Colorado 32:42 The Impact of My Wife’s Cancer Diagnosis 35:30 The Importance of Purpose in Retirement _______________ As an Amazon Associate this show earns income from qualifying purchases. Affiliate links do not increase your costs, and we will only link to products or services that we are familiar with and that we feel may deliver value to you. The modest income received from affiliate links helps support the cost of running and managing this show.