HOW TO DO IT ALL: 

ZACK PENNINGTON MIGHT BE THE COOLEST GUY WE KNOW. IN ADDITION TO BEING A CO-FOUNDER OR CO-OWNER OF HERELANCER, U.S. CHIA, AND FLYING AXES, HE IS ALSO THE LEAD GUITARIST FOR LIGHT TREASONS AND IS A SALES MANGER AT EDJANALYTICS.

• Zack is one of the owners of Flying Axes in Louisville.
  • Although his initial reaction was that it wasn’t a great idea, after going to an axe-throwing venue in Canada, Zack realized it was a great industry that appealed to everyone (similar to darts and bowling).
  • The team also received great publicity thanks to Jennifer Lawrence on Jimmy Fallon.
• After graduating from college, Zack was in a band and toured across the country. He credits this band for helping him with business, sales, and marketing.
• When Zack was getting his MBA, he started U.S. Chia, a domestic chia seed production company.
  • He started the company with a plant scientist, who had a patented variety of chia seeds that would grow in the United States.
  • Zack’s biggest strength was giving the pitch in business plan competitions.
  • The secrets to a great pitch:
    • Make it simple enough for the average person to understand it.
    • Be confident and credible enough to make it seem like you know all the jargon and technical aspects of the company/industry.
• Once U.S. Chia was established and could operate as a stable business, Zack and his partner decided to sell the company in November 2017.
• Recently, Zack decided to start a new band, Light Treasons.
  • Listen in for a quick taste of “The Romantic”.
• Zack also started Herelancer, which connects people in the community with local freelancers.
  • With Herelancer, Zack was able to focus on aspects of the business other than strictly sales by teaming up with a partner who also has similar strengths.
• Within the last few months, Zack pulled a 180 and went to work for Edj Analytics as a Sales Manager.
  • Since he is the first person in his position, Zack still gets to play the role of entrepreneur even though he works for somebody else.
  • He explains his reasoning for taking a comfortable job with a salary while still investing in other ventures.
• How does Zack manage all his projects?
  • It’s amazing how much can be accomplished when you condense your time and focus on the most important tasks.
  • He turns off all notifications and distractions on his phone and batches his time to get the maximum amount done.
• What’s the most important thing somebody should focus on when starting a business?
  • All that matters is how many people you can convince to purchase your product/service and how expensive is it to produce?

LAST CALL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

• What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
  • Invite people out to lunch who can teach you something or you can help.
  • Reach out to people you think are unavailable.
• What advice would you give to your 22-year-old self?
  • If you make enough money early, you can do what you love forever.
• What advice would your 60-year-old self give you today?
  • Your optimism was the only asset that was perpetual.
  • Invest in the inevitable.
• The best thing you have spent money on in the past 6 months:
  • Buying food for other people.
• What media do you recommend:
  • The Hard Thing About Hard Things
  • Seth Godin
  • Rework
• Favorite thing to drink:
  • Bourbon and Tecate 
  • Angel’s Envy

SPECIAL SHOUTOUTS AND SHOW NOTES:

• Woodford Reserve – according to Zack it’s scientifically the best bourbon.
• Jameson Irish Whiskey
• Old Forester
• The 4-Hour Workweek
• Ballotin Chocolate Whiskey

You can learn more about Zack by connecting with him on LinkedIn.

Have any topics you want to be covered or amazing people you’d like us to interview? Let us know! You can email us at info@drunkenmoney.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin. Please be sure to subscribe to our weekly mailing list at drunkenmoney.com/subscribe.

The boys at Drunken Money have a lot to be thankful for in 2017.

As millennials, we hear all the time how we should save our money and invest for retirement, but do any of us actually know how much we should be saving? 2% of our gross salary? 5% of our after-tax income? 10% of the country’s average household GDP adjusted for inflation? What does it all mean?

Well it turns out the amount we actually need to be saving for retirement is a very simple calculation, and it has nothing to do with how much you or I or anybody else earns today.

It depends entirely on how much we think we’ll want to spend in the future.

Generally, a safe rule of thumb is that we will be able to withdraw 4% of our total investments each year in order to keep our principal and adjust for inflation. So, to quickly calculate how much we need to retire, let’s say we can live off $30,000 each year when we’re old, have no kids in the house to pay for, and have no debt (if you don’t think this is realistic – check out mrmoneymustache.com and learn something). By using the 4% withdrawal rule, we will multiply the $30,000 by 25 (1/.04) to get to $750,000 total savings needed to retire.

But how do we determine the amount we should invest each year?

We will need a present value calculator (I use moneychimp.com).

Using me as an example, I am 25 and want to retire in 25 years (at age 50, because I don’t want to be old and half dead when I can finally stop working), so I will need the future value of what I invest today to be $30,000, which is $750,000 divided by 25.

Using a present value calculator, we will enter the future value we want our investment to be (in this case $30,000), our time until we need the money (25 years), and our discount rate (we will use 5% – which is the approximate compound annual growth rate adjusted for inflation for stocks from 1970 to 2015 of 6%, adjusted for a 15% capital gains tax rate).

The present value calculator tells us that this year we should invest $8,800 to end up with $30,000 in 25 years. If we adjust the years to 24, we will find that next year we should invest $9,300 to get the same result. Every year we get closer to retirement, the more we will need to invest to get the same future value result because there will be less compound interest.

I know you’re probably thinking, “There’s no way I can save $8,800 per year right now”. Well I call bullshit. That $8,800 comes out to $170 per week, or $24 per day. I’m positive if we sit down and look over we can find things to cut out of your spending to get us to that goal. And if not? Remember, this is just an estimate based on one set of facts. You can always adjust the number to account for your projected spending during retirement and the age you want to retire. Say we want to work part-time after age 50 and expect to make $10,000? The number we need to save will decrease significantly (it will be less than $6,000 for this year). Same goes if we make the retirement age 65 instead of 50, we’d only need to invest $4,250 this year ($82 per week).

Now how should we invest? We’ll cover that in another episode, but the common recommendation is to diversify our investments as much as possible. Personally, I like to use Betterment for some of my investments because it automatically withdraws money from my bank account (I never miss the money and it takes advantage of dollar cost averaging) and it invests my money in a very diverse range of domestic and foreign stocks and bonds.

I know this was an information dense episode, but remember at the end of the day, a happy retirement is right around the corner. We just need to plan ahead and work towards our goal. And again, the only number that matters is how much we need for retirement. Once we know that number, all it takes is a little math to determine how much we should be investing each year. With a little disciplined investing we’ll be well prepared to retire early and be able to enjoy life. Think how great it will be in 25-30 years to sit back together, drink a beer, and be able to enjoy the next few decades of our lives in comfort.

I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please let us know your thoughts at drunkenmoneypodcast@gmail.com. Check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Simon Sinek provides amazing insight on Millennials in the workplace offering real life advice on how to navigate the work world in your 20s.

How do you conquer SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? It’s an issue that’s constantly on the mind of anyone with a website. In this episode, we get to chat with Jenna Ahern, President and Co-Founder of Guardian Own Digital Boutique. Jenna is an SEO master, and she gives us a ton of helpful tips.

In this episode:

• How Jenna became involved with marketing and SEO.
• Why she started a business.
• The importance of SEO.
• How companies can improve their SEO.
• The most difficult and the best part of starting a business.
• Why you should network.

Show quotes:

• “Go as far as you can see.”
• “Appreciate the moment.”
• “How are you using your 24 hours?”

Special shoutouts and show notes:

• Woodford Reserve
• Netsertive
• ROI (Return on Investment)
• Absorption Rate
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Google Analytics
• Google Webmaster Tools
• The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter
• The E Myth Revisited
• GLOW (Greater Louisville Outstanding Women)
• Women in Digital
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad
• State Farm Roth IRA

Contact Jenna at info@guardianowldigital.com or jenna@guardianowldigital.com

Have any topics you want to be covered or entrepreneurs you’d like us to interview? Let us know! You can email us at paul@drunkenmoney.com or john@drunkenmoney.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin. Please be sure to subscribe to our weekly mailing list at drunkenmoney.com/subscribe.

Catey Shaw brilliantly explains EVERYTHING that our brand is about in her song “Run, Run, Run.” It’s so good, it could practically be our theme song. Catey Shaw​, if you’re listening, we’d love to hear you on our show, and we love everything you do!

If you’d like to hear more from Catey Shaw, please check her out on Spotify, or Facebook HERE.