Afford Anything
569 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 3.3K ratingsYou can afford anything, but not everything. We make daily decisions about how to spend money, time, energy, focus and attention – and ultimately, our life.
How do we make smarter decisions? How do we think from first principles?
On the surface, Afford Anything seems like a podcast about money and investing.
But under the hood, this is a show about how to think critically, recognize our behavioral blind spots, and make smarter choices. We’re into the psychology of money, and we love metacognition: thinking about how to think.
In some episodes, we interview world-class experts: professors, researchers, scientists, authors. In other episodes, we answer your questions, talking through decision-making frameworks and mental models.
Want to learn more? Download our free book, Escape, at http://affordanything.com/escape. Hosted by Paula Pant.
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Episodes
Why I Quit My Job with No Savings When My Wife Was Five Months Pregnant (and What Happened Next?!), with Grant Baldwin
March 02, 2020 06:00 - 1 hour#244: Grant Baldwin felt burned out. He worked as a youth pastor, which felt like a 24/7 profession. He had to attend student events held late into the night, which left him exhausted. One night, he came home to find his wife crying. She told him that she felt like she had a roommate, rather than a husband, because he was gone so often. So Grant did something drastic: he quit his job, with negligible savings, when his wife was four to five months pregnant. For the following year, he waited ta...
Ask Paula: How Can I Retire in 10 Years with Rental Properties?
February 27, 2020 23:49 - 1 hour#243: Adam is 23 years old and wants to achieve financial independence as quickly as possible. However, he’s nervous about investing in the stock market and real estate. How can he overcome his fears? Paris, age 35, has a similar question. She earns $150,000 per year, is debt-free, and doesn’t own a home. How can she reach financial independence in less than 10 years? Paul wants to househack his first home, but none of the properties he's seen meet the one percent rule. He doesn’t want to ren...
The Art of Trusting Your Most Dangerous Ideas, with Ash Ambirge, The Middle Finger Project
February 17, 2020 06:00 - 1 hour#242: Ash Ambirge grew up in a trailer park in Pennsylvania. She never met her father. Her disabled mother, who raised her on government assistance, passed away when she was 20. Her childhood goal? To join the middle class. She dreamed of becoming one of those people who eats lemon pepper chicken. What’s more middle-class than that? She attended college on a full scholarship. When she graduated and accepted her first cushy office job, earning $30,000 per year, she blew her paychecks. She bou...
Ask Paula: Should I Raid My Retirement Savings to Pay for School?
February 10, 2020 06:02 - 1 hour#241: Anton wants to accelerate his flight training so he can get hired within two to three months, rather than two to three years. He has to raid his retirement savings to achieve this. Should he? Linda and her husband have their eyes on early retirement, but they aren’t sure what their post-retirement lifestyle will cost. How can they budget for unknown expenses that include travel? Joseph contributes 15 percent of his income to both a Roth 457b and Roth IRA. He wants to retire before age 5...
10 Questions to Master Successful Investing, with David Stein
February 07, 2020 06:00 - 1 hour#240: Are you investing, speculating, or gambling? What are the three drivers of asset performance? Are you aware of who’s getting a cut from your investments? Do you even know who’s on the other side of the trade? David Stein is the author of Money for the Rest of Us, a book that answers these questions. He’s the former Chief Investment Strategist & Chief Portfolio Strategist at Fund Evaluation Group, a $70 billion investment firm. If you’re thinking of adding a new investment to your portfo...
Ask Paula: Should I Put My Student Loans in Forbearance? Should I Buy a Vacation Rental? and More
February 03, 2020 15:00 - 1 hour#239: Lo is in a good spot with her career, but she’s struggling with a ton of student loan debt, and consequently, credit card debt. What should she do to manage it? Anonymous wants to know how to set up a backdoor Roth IRA. Eric and his wife own a property in Savannah, GA that brings in more money as an Airbnb than a traditional rental. They want to invest in more properties and are wondering if this model is the best path to take. James wants to own a vacation rental in the Vermont mountai...
How to Stop Making So Many Money Mistakes, with Jeff Kreisler
January 27, 2020 06:00 - 1 hour#238: “If I had more willpower, I’d achieve my financial goals.” “I’m doomed to fail with money.” “I’m horrible for not keeping to a budget.” These are common thoughts, but they’re erroneous. You can’t willpower your way through money management, you’re not doomed to fail, and you’re not horrible for blowing your budget. You’re human, and humans make emotional decisions. Those emotional decisions don’t have to mean a financial death sentence, though. Jeff Kreisler, co-author of Dollars and ...
Ask Paula and Joe -- Should I BUY a Business, Instead of Starting One?
January 20, 2020 06:00 - 1 hour#237: Katie wants to know how to purchase a business that’s already cash-flow positive. What indicators can she look for? Rob will retire from the military with an inflation-adjusted pension. Does he need a bond allocation in his investment portfolio? Brian conquered a large sum of credit card debt, but still has student loan debt and a mortgage. Should he pay off his student loans, refinance them, or refinance his mortgage? Jeff is curious about the pros and cons of investment apps. When sho...
How We Saved $1 Million and Retired at 31 and 32, with Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung
January 13, 2020 06:00 - 1 hour#236: Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung achieved financial independence four years ago at age 31 and 32. They saved $1 million and live on $40,000 per year while traveling the world. Kristy and Bryce don’t worry about running out of money, they created new identities after quitting their jobs, and their community has quadrupled in size. Here’s how they achieved this lifestyle. For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode236 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Ask Paula: Sooo … I Quit My Job. What Type of Business Should I Start?
January 06, 2020 06:00 - 1 hour#235: Anna has made the leap to self-employment … but what’s next? She lives in the Bay Area and she’s trying to choose between five business ideas; she needs to make enough money to stay in her high-cost area. Doug recently won $9,000 from an online poker side gig and is wondering how best to use the funds: pay off high-interest student loan debt, or keep it to increase his poker earning potential? Alex and his partner want to househack a single-family property with a mother-in-law suit. Wha...
26 Easy Moves to Improve Your Finances in 2020
January 03, 2020 19:35 - 1 hour#234: We review 26 quick, easy actions that improve your financial life, plus 10 new added bonus ideas that came directly from our community. We issue a challenge for you to tackle one action per week for the first 26 weeks (six months) of the year, so you’ll build stronger financial health by summertime. Download the free book that accompanies this episode at http://affordanything.com/2020kickoff and join us in the 2020 One Tweak a Week challenge! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podc...
Ask Paula: How Can I Retire in 12 Years?
December 31, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour#233: Deepak is considering downsizing his family’s home, but wants to know if the savings are worth the transaction costs he’ll have to pay. Anonymous and her husband hold $900,000 worth of privately-owned company stock. How should they plan for handling this money? Shelby is 25 years old and works for a company that awarded her restricted stock units. What should she do with these? Additionally, she traded in a 2013 Prius for a 2018 Subaru, for which she now owes $19,000. Should she sell it...
How to Avoid College Debt, with Anthony ONeal
December 27, 2019 20:00 - 1 hour#232: Anthony ONeal is the bestselling author of Debt-Free Degree, a book that teaches parents how to help their children graduate from college without student loans. He’s part of the Dave Ramsey Solutions team, which teaches people how to pay off and avoid debt, and he's the co-author of Graduate Survival Guide, along with Rachel Cruze. Anthony joins us on this episode to share tips and hacks to help you save on tuition and find money for college. For more information, visit the show notes a...
Ask Paula: How Can I Get My Spouse Interested in Frugality?
December 16, 2019 18:00 - 54 minutes#231: Avie needs to decide between two options: paying off a rental property, or funding a retirement account. Which should she choose? Lisa wants to know: when should you fund an HSA account? Sofia’s parents have lived with her for the past few years, but Sofia’s job is relocating her out-of-state. How can she transition her home to a rental for her parents? Jim is a saver and his wife is a spender. How can he interest her in frugality? Candice wants to know my thoughts about online real...
How to Develop Emotional Agility, with Dr. Susan David
December 09, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour#230: Dr. Susan David, a psychologist on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, joins us to talk about emotional agility. Dr. David has researched emotional agility for around 20 years. A few years ago, she summarized her work on this concept for the Harvard Business Review. Her article became one of the most popular articles of the year, and the publishers heralded it as the Management Idea of the Year. Dr. David gave a TED talk on emotional agility, which went viral, gaining more than a m...
Ask Paula: Help! My Mom or Dad Took Out a Credit Card in My Name. Am I On the Hook?
December 06, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour#229: Normally, we’re a once-a-week podcast, with episodes airing every Monday. But on the first Friday of every month, we have a First Friday bonus episode! Helen discovered that her mother fraudulently opened credit card accounts in her name. Eek! How can she protect herself? What will happen to these accounts once her mother passes away? Amelia and her husband cannot fire their financial advisor. How can they minimize the damage and maximize the benefit they receive from him in the meant...
What I Learned from Losing $170 Million, with Noah Kagan
December 02, 2019 06:02 - 1 hour#228: In November 2005, when Noah Kagan was 24, he was hired as Employee #30 at Facebook. His stock options would have been worth $170 million if he’d cashed out in 2014, he says. But he didn’t see a dime. In June 2006, merely 9 months after he started working at Facebook, Noah got fired. Instead of making $170 million, he made zero. He fell into a deep depression for a year. Then he rescued himself by becoming a serial entrepreneur. He tried his hand at a lot of things -- including develo...
Ask Paula: How Can I Get the Most from My Mini-Retirement?
November 25, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour#227: Lien is taking a year off of work to live the van life with her husband. She wants to know how she can make the most of this sabbatical to figure out how to turn her less-than-inspiring career into a lifestyle that she loves. Lien called in again to say that she wants to start a new business and a family when she returns from her gap year. Her former job offered excellent health benefits and maternity leave, but she doesn’t really want to go back. What should she do? Eddie wants to bu...
How to Make Time for Things That Matter, with John Zeratsky
November 18, 2019 06:00 - 1 hour#226: Feeling time-crunched? Today’s episode is for you. Today’s episode features productivity expert John Zeratsky, who shares specific, action-packed time management strategies, with a focus on email management. If the term inbox zero sounds laughable, these strategies are up your alley. John’s interest in productivity began one winter morning in 2008, when he realized that the past few months had been an eerie blur. He realized that time was slipping away. He knew he needed to figure out...
Ask Paula: How to Invest for the Next Five Years
November 11, 2019 06:05 - 1 hour#225: Lauren is 26 and earns $48,000 per year after taxes. She saves $12,000 annually in retirement accounts, and an additional $18,000 per year for a downpayment on a home. She wants to buy a home in the next five years. Where should she keep her savings in the meantime? Sawyer has a five-year financial independence plan. She owns two high-end condos in a NYC suburb. She lives in one unit and rents the other, but she’s bothered by the fact that she’s forgoing collecting rent on her home u...
The Science of Rapid Learning, with Scott Young, author of Ultralearning
November 04, 2019 06:05 - 1 hour#224: Scott Young, author of Wall Street Journal best-selling book Ultralearning, talks about the 9 principles of Ultralearning, which can help you learn new skills, reinvent yourself, stay relevant, and adapt to whatever life throws at you. If you think you know the best way to learn something, think again. This book will challenge your assumptions. Whether you want to develop hard skills to become more valuable at your job, soft skills for your journey to self-improvement, or you want to h...
Ask Paula: Should I Choose This or That? How to Weigh the Tradeoffs
November 01, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#223: Elizabeth is curious to know: what does a good net worth breakdown look like? Is it appropriate to have a lot of your net worth tied up in real estate? Marie wants to start her own business, but she’s living paycheck-to-paycheck. Is incurring debt her only option to make this dream a reality? Bria wants to take a second mini-retirement and has a good chunk of money saved up. She wants to come back to the workforce with a cash cushion. What should she do with her money while traveling?...
Seven Ways to Escape the Rat Race - with Michael Robinson
October 28, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#222: Michael Robinson and his wife, Ellen, achieved financial independence at age 33. They ‘retired’ (they still enjoy working) three years later at age 36 on two five-figure incomes. Today, Michael and Ellen are raising their two children to be bilingual by slow traveling throughout Latin America. Michael and Ellen blog about their FIRE adventures at uncommondream.com. They believe that “the Uncommon Dream is the dream pursued – the dream met with planning, action, and sacrifice. With just...
Ask Paula: How Much of My Company Stock Should I Buy?
October 21, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#221: Vanessa is curious about Fidelity and Vanguard. She asks: what are your thoughts on the no-fee Fidelity index funds? What are your opinions on Vanguard’s financial advisors? Andy wants to know: should my wife and I continue maxing out our traditional 401k and backdoor Roth IRA, or should we start contributing to the Roth 401k my employer offers? Kyle is wondering - how can he minimize his taxes when he earns $450,000/year? Rob is self-employed and has been maxing out a Roth IRA, but ...
Stillness is the Key, with Ryan Holiday
October 14, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#220: In a hectic world, stillness is the key to a calm, enjoyable life. That idea comes from Ryan Holiday, author of Stillness is The Key. Stillness is finding flow, staying present, and being impervious to the pressures of the outside world. It doesn’t mean removing yourself from society and sitting in a forest; to the contrary, many CEOs and world leaders have practiced remarkable stillness during times of crisis. Bestselling author Ryan Holiday discusses actionable tips on how to pract...
Ask Paula: How Should I Invest $4,000 Per Month for Early Retirement?
October 07, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#219: Stella is working toward FIRE and wants to know: how can she create passive income in her retirement years? Is a portfolio with stocks and bonds enough, or should she invest in real estate? Travis and his wife are also on the FIRE path, and are comparing their investment options. Travis is concerned about the inefficiency of reinvesting returns in real estate. How can you factor this into your decision when buying a property? Stephanie and her husband are also interested in FIRE (hoor...
Why We're Irrational with Money - with Kristen Berman
October 04, 2019 12:30 - 1 hour#218: Kristen Berman is co-founder of Irrational Labs, a behavioral product design company, along with Dan Ariely. She has a fascinating job that involves looking into why people behave the way they do with their money, and discovering the easiest solution to help them create more positive financial behavior. In short, she’s a proponent of redesigning the current financial system to make saving automatic and easy, and that’s part of what we discuss in this episode. If creating better finan...
Interview on the FI Show: Financial Independence Philosophy and Origin Story | Paula Pant from Afford Anything
September 30, 2019 12:47 - 1 hour#217: It’s September! If you’ve been listening to the show for the past few months, then you know that I’m on what I’ve dubbed my September Sabbatical, in which I’m taking a break from podcast production and traveling the globe. In light of that, we’re digging through the archives and airing some of my favorite interviews on the show, in between airing interviews I’ve done on other podcasts. Earlier this year, Cody and Justin from The FI Show interviewed me and asked some excellent question...
ChooseFI Interview
September 09, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#214: It’s September! If you’ve been listening to the show for the past few months, then you know that I’m on what I’ve dubbed my September Sabbatical, in which I’m taking a break from podcast production and traveling the globe. In light of that, we’re digging through the archives and airing some of my favorite interviews on the show, in between airing interviews I’ve done on other podcasts. I’m super excited to share an interview I did with Brad and Jonathan of ChooseFI back in December 20...
Andrew Hallam (Part One): How I Became a Millionaire on a Teacher's Salary
September 02, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#212: It’s September!! If you’ve been listening to the show for the past few months, then you know that I’m on what I’ve dubbed my September Sabbatical, in which I’m taking a break from podcast production and traveling the globe. In light of that, we’re digging through the archives and airing some of my favorite interviews on the show, in between airing interviews I’ve done on other podcasts. First up is a two-part interview with Andrew Hallam, a teacher who became a millionaire in his 30s ...
What’s Your Why? Financial Independence, Debt Freedom and More
August 26, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#211: Hey there! I’m writing this from Croatia, where I’m beginning five weeks of travel that I’m calling my September Sabbatical. From now through September 23rd, I’ll be exploring the globe and enjoying a one-month break. Today, I’m kicking things off with a community-based episode. Here’s the backstory behind today’s show: There’s an event called CampFI, which is a 3-4 day gathering for people who are interested in financial independence. CampFI holds around half a dozen events per year...
How to Be an Adult - with Mark Manson
August 19, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#210: We live in a fascinating era: huge sections of society are more prosperous, advanced and safe than at any other point in human history, yet depression and anxiety are at record highs. It’s a paradox of progress: the richer the nation, the more likely its citizens are to suffer from mental health issues and report feeling crushing isolation and unhappiness. What gives? At the individual level, pursuing financial independence and early retirement (FIRE) often fills people with enthusias...
Ask Paula: Are Index Funds Unsafe?
August 12, 2019 10:00 - 1 hour#209: Anonymous wants to retire early and often. They’re going overseas, where they’ll make their annual salary within six months. Where should they put their extra income? Anonymous also wants to know: how can they find a financial advisor they can actually trust? Another anonymous listener wants to know - is it possible to spend more while minimizing taxes in early retirement? JuanCarlos asks: is $20,000 too little to invest with a financial advisor? Angela is wondering how to create a ...
How to Talk to Your Parents About Retirement and Beyond -- with Cameron Huddleston
August 09, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#208: Well, this could get awkward. Your parents and grandparents are aging. (Duh.) You want to have a few important financial conversations with them. It’s time to get the answers to questions like: “So … are you ready for retirement?” “You’ve been retired for 10 years … how’s that going? How are your finances looking?” “Do you have a will or legal trust? What’s your estate plan situation?” “Do you have an advance health care directive?” “To whom have you given your power of attorney?”...
Ask Paula: Should I Take a $30k Paycut for Better Work-Life Balance, or Stick it Out?
August 05, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#207: Matt and his fiance earn $7,500 per month combined. They save more than half of their income. He’d like to take a different job that will decrease his income by $2,000 per month, but improve his quality of life. Should he? Suja wants to take out a loan for business growth. What red flags should she watch for? Anonymous and her husband are thinking about buying half-million-dollar home, purchasing a second car, and having a baby. They’ve saved an emergency fund and a 20 percent downpay...
When Career Zigzagging is Smarter - with David Epstein
July 29, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#206: We live in a society that values career specialization. You’re not a “doctor” -- you’re a pediatrician, an anesthesiologist, an oncologist. You’re not a “lawyer” -- you practice family law, or bankruptcy, or criminal law. You’re not an “engineer” -- you’re an electrical engineer who specializes in solar technologies, or a civil engineer who specializes in the application of artificial intelligence in highway traffic design. Specialization is beneficial and necessary, but specializin...
Ask Paula: Am I On-Track for Retirement?
July 22, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#205: Is it ever a good idea to use your 401(k) as an emergency fund? What's the best way to break up with your financial advisor so that you can move all of your funds to Vanguard? Should you put all of your Roth IRA money into index funds, or is there a better option for your money? A listener has a job offer working less hours for more money, but without a retirement plan. Is this a good move? When running a small business as a sole proprietor, are there tax advantages to incorporating...
Upgrade Your Thinking, with Super Thinking authors Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann
July 15, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#204: You make decisions on a daily basis about your career, family, friendships, health and investments; these choices shape your life. But how much have you thought about how to think? There are common threads and collective wisdom across disciplines. These common threads create mental models, which are frameworks for understanding the world. Mental models allow us to apply insights from a variety of unrelated fields, using reasoning by analogy to make better choices about our lives. For...
Ask Paula: Early Retirement and The Four Percent Rule
July 08, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#203: Many people in their 50’s or 60’s warn us about catastrophic or ‘black swan’ events. But what’s the likelihood that this will actually happen? How can you use the 4 percent withdrawal rule for early retirement planning, given that your portfolio will be split among accounts with different tax treatments? How do you adjust your retirement plan for future taxes? Should a couple in their 30’s switch from term life to whole life insurance? Should a couple in their 50’s with adult childre...
Slow Travel is Cheap Travel - with Nomadic Matt
July 05, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#202: In 2006, Matt Kepnes worked at a hospital in Boston, and he felt miserable. He dreaded fighting traffic, spending his days under his offices’ fluorescent lighting, drinking stale coffee. He decided to take one year off -- a “gap year” -- thinking that after his sabbatical, he’d resume another 40 years of punching the clock. He worked 60-hour weeks in order to save money for his sabbatical year. He saved $30,000, then handed his boss a resignation letter. Matt traveled for 18 months, ...
Ask Paula: Which House Should I Pay Off First?
July 01, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#201: Ross and his wife are both in the Navy. They bought a home while they were stationed in Hawaii. Then the Navy sent them to Virginia, where they currently live; they’ve purchased a home there, too. They kept the Hawaii home as a rental property, and they’d like to move back into it when they retire. Which home should they repay first? Mike is 33, debt-free except for his mortgage, and earns more than $200,000 per year. He saves half of his income. What should he do with his savings? Pay...
What I’ve Learned from Interviewing 500 Millionaires -- with Jaime Masters of Eventual Millionaire
June 24, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#200: Nine years ago, I had no idea that personal finance blogs existed. Then, as I was flipping through an issue of Kiplinger magazine, I came across an article about a woman who paid off $70,000 in debt in 16 months. Her name was Jaime, she lived in Maine, and she earned 3x her husband’s income. He made $30,000 per year; she made $100,000. They wanted to have a baby, and she wanted to stay at home for the first year, but their debt load made this impossible. She aggressively went into de...
Ask Paula: The Three-Year Reunion with J. Money
June 17, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#199: Ashley is paying affordable rent for a home she enjoys, but she feels certain that the real estate market in her local market will stay strong. She’s thinking about buying a home with 3 to 5 percent down, but she doesn’t have much in savings. Should she wait for a year to save more? Or should she take advantage of a rising market and relatively low interest rates? Ian and his girlfriend live together in Washington D.C. and have a combined 40 percent savings rate. He’d like to buy a re...
The Japanese Art of Being a Zen Millionaire, with Ken Honda
June 10, 2019 05:00 - 59 minutes#198: Money flows. When you receive money, you’re in the path of this flow. Money flows from someone else to you, and eventually, it’ll flow from you to someone else, either in the form of a purchase or an investment. A healthy relationship with money is to feel gratitude when money flows towards you, and to release your money without attachment or resentment when it flows away from you. Today's guest, Ken Honda, is known as the “Zen Millionaire” of Japan. He’s sold more than seven millio...
Ask Paula: Traditional IRA vs. Roth IRA -- What Should I Choose?
June 07, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#197: Should Bret invest in a Traditional IRA or a Roth IRA? If Amanda gets married, how will her child support be affected? What about her student loan forgiveness? Joe is investing in bonds, which average a rate of return that’s equal to the interest rate on his mortgage. Should he switch to all-equities and redirect his bond investments into mortgage payoff, instead? Taunia has a car loan, a 401k loan, a home improvement loan, a primary mortgage, and a second mortgage. She also has an e...
Starting Over at 40 with Six Kids, with Wendy Mays
June 03, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#196: When Wendy Mays was in her early 20’s, she earned $12 an hour working as the office manager of a pest control company. She wanted higher income, so she enrolled in college at age 22. By the time she finished her undergraduate degree, she was 26, married, with a child. Her husband worked low-paying jobs to make ends meet. They struggled to pay the bills. Wendy decided to enroll in law school, so that she could bring in more money. She graduated around age 30, and became the primary bre...
Ask Paula: I Make $168,000 Per Year and Spend $5,000 Per Year. What’s Next?
May 27, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#195: Alex makes $168,000 per year, combined between her full-time job and her side hustle. Her company pays for breakfast, lunch and dinner during the work week, plus a cell phone subsidy, health, dental and vision insurance, a gym membership, and commuting costs. She also househacks, so her living expenses are only $400 per month. What should she do with her ample savings? Christine is 38 and earns $70,000 per year running her own business. She holds $70,000 in investment accounts, has ano...
The 7 Faces of Fear -- with Ruth Soukup
May 20, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#194: Fear shows up in our lives in countless ways. Sometimes, fear takes the form of procrastination. We're afraid of botching something, or we don't like the feeling of anxiety that a project gives us, so we avoid it, dodge it, and indefinitely put it off. Other times, fear takes the form of perfectionism through endless iterating and tweaking. We want to keep tinkering with a project, to get it "just right." We applaud ourselves for our attention to detail. Fear takes the form of making...
Ask Paula: I Spent Ten Years in School, and Now I’m Behind on Retirement Savings
May 13, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#193: Lori is behind on retirement savings, as a result of being a full-time student for more than a decade. She makes good money and lives frugally, but she’s aware that she’s behind for her age. What should she do? Sierra wonders whether she should apply her savings towards paying off her mortgage or building investments. Jenessa plans to retire at age 35, and she’s wondering if the 4 percent withdrawal rule applies for such a long time horizon. Her friend swears that it’s designed to cov...
The Latte Factor, with author David Bach
May 06, 2019 05:00 - 1 hour#192: “Don’t buy lattes.” This classic snippet of personal finance advice isn’t specifically anti-Starbucks. “Lattes” are a metaphor for the tiny expenses that leak money from our pockets, often without us realizing how much we’re spending. Your “latte” could be a pile of subscriptions: HBONow, YouTube Red, Spotify Premium, Netflix, Hulu Plus, the CostCo membership that you haven’t used in two years, and -- for that matter -- the gym membership that you also haven’t used in two years. (Ahem...