Carl interviews "Stacking Benjamins" host Joe Saul-Sehy. Joe is a former financial advisor and has represented American Express and Ameriprise in media. He was "Money Man" on WXYZ-TV in Detroit and has appeared in countless newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Detroit News and more. Joe left his financial advising career at age 40 and never looked back. His award-winning podcast is one of the most listened to in the personal finance sphere. Plus, he's really funny! (Full disclosure: Carl is a total fanboy of the show.)

Joe grew up in Michigan in a hard-working middle-class family. He tells us that whenever his parents would discuss money, as kids they had to leave the room, which was like a lot of families back then. "So I end up going to college with zero understanding of how money worked, how credit cards worked." His financial lesson came when he went to a military college in South Carolina and with no money, no income and no job, he somehow secured a credit card. He bought things, not thinking about how he was going to pay for them. "I burned my credit right out of college."

Joe worked at a call center for a water treatment plant and decided he needed to make a change. He eventually became a financial advisor.  He loved helping people, while not taking his own advice. "The lie that I lived, that people still live today, is that if I just make more money, I don't need to budget. All my problems are solved if I just make a little more." Over time he realized that he should start taking the advice he was giving other people and did well in his 16-year career.

AHA moment: At age 40, a fellow employee was leaving the firm, saying he felt like he had  "...other mountains to climb." Those words had a huge impact on several people at the office, including Joe. "Why spend your life doing something that's a 6 or 7 outta 10 for you?" he says.

Joe sold his business and pursued one of his dreams--to be a high school teacher and track coach. He figured out quickly that dealing with administration wasn't going to work for him. He said that sometimes, "you just have to go down the path to see what opens you up, what lights you up." Joe pivoted to consulting for financial planners, ghost-writing for them in various media, becoming the Money Man on TV and working as a radio host.

"My favorite radio guest Josh Bannerman (AKA OG) and I decided to start a podcast different from the others, about making personal finance more approachable, interesting and fun. We had no idea how to do it!" Thirteen years later, the Stacking Benjamins podcast is a huge success, one of the top listened-to podcasts in the financial realm. He currently lives with his wife in Texarkana, and when not working on the podcast, one of Joe's other passions is board games.

What's with Joe's Mom's basement? You'll need to listen...

Joe Saul-Sehy's Unretirement advice:

• "Stop spending time online. Go to conferences on whatever interests you. Go and meet people!"

• "If you join and volunteer with local clubs, you actually find your real-life community."

• "It's a truth: You are a product of who you surround yourself with."

• "It ain't about retirement. It's about the journey we're on." 

• More about Joe Saul-Sehy

• Joe's book STACKED

• Sponsored by How to Retire and Not Die

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage

• I Used to be Somebody World Tours

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog

Tags:    blog   Joe Saul-Sehy   Money management   Personal finance   Personal growth   Career change