#575: Krish is fascinated by cryptocurrency and its impact on global investing. What opportunities should he capitalize on, and how? Apars income has more than doubled after he started his own business. His advisor recommends Roth contributions but hes skeptical due to his high income. Whos right? Keith is frustrated by the conflicting advice hes heard about Roth conversions. Is it better to do it while hes young and earning a lower income, or should he wait until closer to retirement? Former fi...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Transcript available on Metacast #574: What would you do if someone in authority told you to do something that felt wrong? Most of us like to think we'd speak up, push back, stand our ground. But research tells a very different story. In fact, when Yale researchers conducted a famous experiment in the 1960s, they found that 65% of people would administer what they believed to be deadly electric shocks to another human being... simply because someone in a lab coat told them to. Today's guest has spent over 15 years studying why ...
Jan 17, 2025•2 hr 31 min•Ep 574•Transcript available on Metacast #573: An anonymous caller has always put her large purchases on zero percent APR credit cards, but somethings been nagging at her. Is she walking on thin ice with this strategy? Von is confused why he keeps hearing that Roth accounts are better than traditional if they both lead to the same mathematical result. Whats he missing? Molly and her husband are well on their way to financial independence, but they feel unfulfilled with their careers. Can they afford to plunge into student debt with a 5...
Jan 14, 2025•58 min•Ep 573•Transcript available on Metacast #572: At age 7, Dr. Jordan Grumet lost his father. This early loss shaped his career path he became a physician, following in his dad's footsteps. But by 2010, feeling burned out from internal medicine, he took an unexpected turn: he became a hospice doctor. In this episode, Dr. Grumet joins us to discuss what he's learned from thousands of conversations with people in their final days. These discussions have revealed a pattern: people don't typically regret their bank balance on their deathbed....
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep 572•Transcript available on Metacast #571: An anonymous callers crypto investments have recently skyrocketed to 17 percent of her investment portfolio. Given the volatility of this asset, should she rebalance it or go all in? Jocelyn wants to buy a house in three years but shes reluctant to keep her sizable down payment in cash. What if she splits the difference and invests half the money instead? Allison feels antsy holding $1 million in cash with falling interest rates on the horizon. How does she optimize this money while keepin...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep 571•Transcript available on Metacast Grab your free copy of the 52-week guide to micro-improvements at https://affordanything.com/financialgoals _______ In 2012, the British cycling team pulled off what seemed impossible. After 76 years of losses, they won the Tour de France, took second place, and grabbed 8 Olympic gold medals. Their secret? Tiny improvements that added up to massive change. That's the philosophy behind "One Tweak a Week," a year-long financial roadmap broken into 52 small, manageable steps. Each tweak takes less ...
Jan 03, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep 570•Transcript available on Metacast #569: Lets take a look back on the biggest financial and economic stories of 2024 - and a look ahead to 2025! The Fed GDP The Bull Market The Deficit Inflation Bitcoin Basel III Endgame and Scientific Breakthroughs References and Resources: Michael Kitces interview https://AffordAnything.com/episode525 One Tweak a Week: https://AffordAnything.com/financialgoals For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode569 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...
Dec 30, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 569•Transcript available on Metacast Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. Shes famous for her work in radioactivity. Lin-Manual Miranda is a songwriter, producer and director who won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2016, as well as several Tony awards. What do they have in common? They lived a century apart. They innovated in disparate fields. But they shared a similar productivity practice. Both achieved greatness by embracing the practice of slow productivity, says Georgetown...
Dec 27, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Do you ever wonder what happens behind closed doors on Wall Street? Vivian Tu, also known as Your Rich BFF, is here to spill the tea. Vivian grew up in a modest immigrant family. After college, she found herself working insane hours on Wall Street after college. While working on Wall Street, Vivian saw some weird things. Once, a coworker stumbled hungover into the office after a trip to Atlantic City, carrying a duffel bag with thousands of dollars in cash inside. Vivian realized that theres a g...
Dec 26, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast If youve ever thought: Id love a business BUT I dont have TIME. I dont have MONEY. I dont have IDEAS. I have TOO MANY ideas and I dont know where to start. Im not technical. Im not creative or artistic. Im not good at sales. Youre not alone. Countless people dont start businesses or side hustles for these reasons. And theyre losing thousands perhaps millions in opportunity cost. How much could you make if you started a side hustle that eventually scaled into a business? Possibly millions. Todays...
Dec 25, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Great communication will get you a raise. Itll get you promoted. Youll land the corner office. Youll make friends and be the life of the party. Youll land business deals and form lucrative partnerships. Supercommunication is a superpower. But how do we build it? Sometimes, you might walk away from a conversation with the joy of having made a cool new friend. Or you snagged a critical piece of information that you realllllly needed. Or you successfully negotiated an extra $5,000 off your car. On ...
Dec 24, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ever made a flippant, seemingly minor decision that radically changed the course of your life?Morgan Housel has experienced this. At age 17, he made a quick decision that ended up saving his life. Sadly, two of his friends were less fortunate. He shares that story in todays podcast episode, and sheds light on the lessons hes learned from it. Housel says that his lifesaving choice and many of our other important decisions are snap verdicts, ones that we dont spend much time thinking about. If piv...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast #568: Jason is confused by the recent discussions about the efficient frontier and Paul Merrimans four-sector strategy. It seems a lot like another form of stock-picking. Whats the difference? Michelle straddles the Roth income threshold and is frustrated that she never knows if shell qualify for a Roth contribution until tax season. Is her current savings plan too complicated? Evan has $100 to spend on personal finance books for his high schools library. What books would Paula and Joe put on th...
Dec 20, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep 568•Transcript available on Metacast #567: What happens when an astronaut goes blind during a spacewalk? For Chris Hadfield, this wasn't a hypothetical scenario. While working outside the International Space Station, cleaning solution from his helmet visor spread into both eyes, leaving him completely blind in the vacuum of space. His response? Stay calm and methodically evaluate options. He could call Houston. He could have a crew member rescue him. He could try to cry to flush out his eyes - though that's tricky in zero gravity. ...
Dec 17, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 567•Transcript available on Metacast #566: Jackie is sold on Paul Merrimans Four Funds approach, but shes overwhelmed by the logistics of diversifying her single fund portfolio.. What are the best practices to redistribute her investments, handle taxes, and manage rebalancing? Heidis mother recently passed and shes struggling to decide between distribution options, their tax implications, and investment options for the annuity she inherited. An anonymous caller and her husband want to buy a second home, pay for their childrens coll...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep 566•Transcript available on Metacast #565: When Codie Sanchez worked in finance, she wasn't planning to buy a laundromat. But facing 60-70 hour workweeks and realizing she didn't want her boss's job, she started looking for an exit strategy. Instead of buying a fancy car during her "midlife crisis," she purchased that first laundromat - a decision that would lead her to acquire multiple laundromats, car washes, and other local businesses. Codie joins us to break down how regular people can buy and run profitable local businesses, e...
Dec 10, 2024•2 hr 47 min•Ep 565•Transcript available on Metacast #564: Our economy just gave us two big surprises that shape how we'll do business and invest in 2025. Our job market is going through major changes. Sure, we added 227,000 jobs - way more than anyone expected. Healthcare and hospitality are booming. But here's what you need to watch: our unemployment rate just climbed to 4.2%. When you look at how many people are joining or leaving the workforce, you'll spot some interesting signals about where we're headed. You've probably heard about these new...
Dec 07, 2024•55 min•Ep 564•Transcript available on Metacast #563: Bitcoin is hitting new all-time highs. Is this just another bull cycle, or are we witnessing a fundamental shift in how the world thinks about money? That's the question at the heart of our conversation with Tatiana Koffman, General Partner at Moonwalker Capital and author of "The Myth of Money." Koffman joins us to explain why Bitcoin might be considered "digital property" rather than just a currency. She breaks down how Bitcoin derives its value from mathematical scarcity similar to how ...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep 563•Transcript available on Metacast #562: More than 90 percent of people who ask to get their credit card annual fee reduced are successful. Yet most people never ask. Why? They assume the answer will be no. Matt Schultz, the author of Ask Questions, Save Money, Make More, joins us to explain the psychology and tactics behind successful negotiation. The key insight: companies want to keep your business. Banks, employers, and service providers invest in long-term relationships because it's more profitable than constantly finding ne...
Nov 29, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep 562•Transcript available on Metacast #561: Joanne is confident that her short and long-term financial plans are set, but shes not certain about the medium-term. Whats the proper way to allocate money for different time horizons? Jessie is intrigued by Paul Merrimans simple portfolio recommendations but wonders about his lean away from growth stocks. Are value funds generally better for everyday investors? Nancy is worried shell miscalculate her financial independence number because her net worth includes pre and post-tax money, plu...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep 561•Transcript available on Metacast #560: Bill Bengen, the former rocket scientist who discovered the "4 percent rule" of retirement planning, joins us at the Bogleheads conference in Minnesota. Bengen clarifies that calling it a "rule" is misleading since it doesn't fit everyone's situation. The 4 percent figure came from studying the worst-case scenario since 1926, when someone who retired in 1968 could only safely withdraw 4.2 percent annually. Out of 400+ retirees in his database, that was the only one who had such a low safe ...
Nov 22, 2024•58 min•Ep 560•Transcript available on Metacast #559: An anonymous caller, whom we name Samantha, and her husband are financially strained and feeling torn. Shortly after purchasing two rental properties, their income dropped dramatically. Should they sell? Tina is a full-time environmentalist. Shes worried that her index funds dont align with her values on sustainability. Is there a world where she can be a savvy investor and fight climate change? Another anonymous caller, whom we name Sarah, is excited and uncertain about her growing busine...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep 559•Transcript available on Metacast #558: What happens when you spend three decades talking to retirement experts? You learn that most of what people think they know about retirement planning is oversimplified or wrong. Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning at Morningstar, joins us on the Afford Anything podcast to share what she's discovered after 31 years of interviewing experts across personal finance, tax planning, and Social Security. One key insight: The standard advice about withdrawing 4 perc...
Nov 15, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep 558•Transcript available on Metacast #557: Imagine saving nearly your entire paycheck while your rental properties cover your bills. That's exactly where real estate investor Andrew finds himself and yet he's at a crossroads. At FinCon, a personal finance conference, former financial advisor Joe Saul-Sehy and I sit down with Andrew and another attendee who bring their money dilemmas live on stage. Andrew's question seems simple at first: should he sell his index funds to pay off his rental mortgages? But the real story runs deeper....
Nov 12, 2024•52 min•Ep 557•Transcript available on Metacast #556: An anonymous caller was raised to work hard, live below his means, and save. He feels undeserving of his recent $1,000,000 inheritance and struggles to spend it. What should he do? Jack bought a house with a seven-year adjustable-rate mortgage. Hes confused about when and how he should refinance out of it. What should he do? Jack is also wondering how to do the breakeven calculation between contributing to a Traditional IRA with upfront income tax savings versus a Roth IRA with deferred sa...
Nov 08, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep 556•Transcript available on Metacast #555: Brandon Ganch (known online as MadFientist) joins us from Scotland to share how his life has transformed since retiring in 2016 at age 34. I thought retirement was an age, not a function, he said. And when I realized it was just a math function, it changed my entire life. Eight years into retirement, Brandon talks about how his spending and lifestyle have evolved. While his investment portfolio has grown "exponentially," he's had to push himself to spend more money. He and his wife have do...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep 555•Transcript available on Metacast #554: The U.S. jobs market hit a surprising speed bump in October, adding just 12,000 new jobs way below the expected 100,000. A mix of natural disasters and labor unrest explains the slump. Recent hurricanes in the Southeast wiped out somewhere between 40,000 to 70,000 jobs, while strikes at Boeing and other companies added to the slowdown. Against this backdrop, the Federal Reserve looks ready to cut interest rates next week by 0.25 percent. Meanwhile, gold is having its biggest moment since 1...
Nov 01, 2024•51 min•Ep 554•Transcript available on Metacast #553: This is the third and final episode in a three-part series. Dr. Brad Klontz and Adrian Brambila join us to share 21 harsh truths about building wealth. This episode focuses on the final 11 harsh truths, following up on their previous conversations about the first 10 harsh truths. The conversation begins with a key distinction: poor people buy stuff, while rich people buy time. They explain how wealthy people focus on building passive income streams rather than trading hours for objects. Br...
Oct 29, 2024•2 hr 39 min•Ep 553•Transcript available on Metacast #552: In this special three-part series, we discuss some of the 21 Harsh Truths About Money. For more information, visit the show notes athttps://affordanything.com/episode552 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 25, 2024•2 hr 48 min•Ep 552•Transcript available on Metacast #551: Financial psychologist Dr. Brad Klontz and Youtuber Adrian Brambila join us to talk about money psychology, starting with a dark but revealing story about an experiment with dogs. Scientists put dogs in electrified cages from which they couldn't escape. Eventually, the dogs stopped trying to escape and just lay down, even when later moved to cages where escape was possible. This 'learned helplessness' mirrors how people can get trapped in negative beliefs about money when they grow up with...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep 551•Transcript available on Metacast 
