Financial Writer & Editor
Meet Joel O’Leary, better known in the virtual world as 5am Joel. This guy is an Aussie-turned-American finance guru, with one of the sunniest dispositions you’ll ever meet. (Seriously, he’s like one of those wake-up-early-always-happy dudes that won’t shut up about how amazing life is 🤣)
Joel’s journey started down under, but at the ripe age of 22, he left the land of Vegemite sandwiches to pursue his dreams of early retirement and becoming a surf bum. Today Joel calls sunny Los Angeles home, where he lives with his lovely wife of a decade and one young kiddo they adopted along the way.
Before joining the How To Money team, Joel was dishing out financial wisdom over at BudgetsAreSexy, an award winning blog owned back then by The Motley Fool. His laid back writing style makes even the most boring finance talk sound like a fun and interesting conversation between close friends. Joel is all about helping people budget better, slash expenses, maximize credit card rewards and dive deep into the FIRE movement (that’s Financial Independence, Retire Early, for you non-finance nerds).
As of April 2025, Joel is now a Personal Finance Writer on the Motley Fool Money team at The Motley Fool.
Fun Facts & Accomplishments:
- Joel bought his first rental property at age 18, with money he saved from working at McDonald’s through high school.
- He quit full time work at age 33, now living a semi-retired life!
- Joel was invited to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange back in 2022! Here’s a pic of that glorious day (and that’s Joel Larsgaard standing right next to him!)
Follow Joel’s Social Channels:
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeloleary/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/5amjoel/
Personal Website – https://5amjoel.com/home/about/
