#361: Wall Street Journal columnist Spencer Jakab marks the one-year anniversary of that weird time when the subReddit Wall St Bets pumped shares of meme stocks like GameStop and AMC Theaters, triggering a short squeeze that forced several hedge funds to lose billions. What did we learn from that experience? And how do we actually take down Wall Street? How do we launch a truly effective financial revolution? We share those insights in today’s episode. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affo...
Jan 26, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep 361•Transcript available on Metacast #360: I’m worried my parents are getting ripped off by their financial advisor. What should I do? My wife is trying to qualify for student loan forgiveness … but we might lose a bunch of tax benefits in the process. Is it worth the risk? I’m enrolling in grad school, and I want to optimize how to pay for rent and groceries. Should I use money from a 529 plan? Three callers. Three questions. In today's episode, former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these tough Q’s. Enjoy! Do you hav...
Jan 19, 2022•58 min•Ep 360•Transcript available on Metacast #359: Money, relationships, health and purpose: life is running smoothly when all four of these elements are working together in tandem, like wheels on a car. But how can we make spending and investing choices that facilitate stronger relationships, better health and a deeper sense of purpose? Andrew Hallam, who became a millionaire on a teacher’s salary, shares researched-backed, evidence-based insights into how to find balance, drawing from the worlds of behavioral finance and stock market his...
Jan 12, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep 359•Transcript available on Metacast #358: Where is the balance between the risks and potential returns of actively and passively investing in index funds?Where do you place your savings after you max out your retirement and HSA accounts? How do you finance building a rental unit when there’s already a home on the lot? Is it more beneficial to buy back pension time with post tax deductions or a 457b plan? Or should I not buy back pension time at all? In today’s episode, former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I discuss the purpo...
Jan 08, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep 358•Transcript available on Metacast #357: Discussing advanced investing topics with me is former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy. You may recognize him from the Ask Paula episodes, but we discuss financial topics shared in his new book "STACKED: Your Super-Serious Guide to Modern Money Management" - co-authored with Emily Guy Birken. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jan 05, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep 357•Transcript available on Metacast #356: How do you find balance between smart money management vs. missing out on opportunities? Should you pile money into investments or take that dream trip to Tanzania? What should you do when your heart leads you to a decision that doesn't make sense on paper? In today's episode, former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I discuss the purpose and practice of mindful money. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...
Dec 29, 2021•53 min•Ep 356•Transcript available on Metacast #355: When Jordan Grumet realized he has achieved financial independence, he fell into a deep depression. He didn’t know who he was anymore, he says, and he didn’t know what should come next. He learned about how to deal with us by observing his hospice patients. In this episode, Grumet, a hospice doctor, describes how working with the dying has taught him about life. Subscribe to the show notes at affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep 355•Transcript available on Metacast #354: Charlie in Cali has enough money saved to pay cash for a house, but she and her husband decided to finance their home, instead. They’d rather invest the money and arbitrage the spread. But one problem: how can they keep themselves from touching this investment? Jay is choosing between Fidelity and M1 Finance, and has questions about tax loss harvesting. Nicole and her siblings will be inheriting some properties that they eventually plan to sell. How should they set up or organize these pro...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep 354•Transcript available on Metacast #353: Daniel Pink joins us to discuss an unusual theory: (1) that our energy rises, falls, and then rises again; (2) that this pattern plays out across our days (morning energy, afternoon slump, nighttime second wind); (3) this also plays out across our lives, with serious implications for how we spend those “muddled middle” years of our 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Get the show notes delivered to your inbox by visiting https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcast...
Dec 09, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep 353•Transcript available on Metacast #352: Anna and her husband have volatile income, but Anna thinks that having 18 months of living expenses is unnecessary. She’s torn between paying off her student loans ($30,000) or investing the money. Mentally, she always figured she would pay off her debt first, but wouldn’t investing pay off in the long run? Charlotte and her husband are taking a phased approach to financial independence, where they need to bridge two gaps before they each turn 59 ½. How can they calculate how much they nee...
Dec 03, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep 352•Transcript available on Metacast #351: Geoff Woods, Vice President of The ONE Thing and host of The ONE Thing podcast, is an expert on ruthless prioritization, habit development, and goal setting. The simple framework he presents allows you to focus deeply and commit to the actions you need to take if you want to take your productivity to the next level this year. Get the show notes delivered to your inbox by visiting https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep 351•Transcript available on Metacast #350: Anonymous and her husband have set themselves on the path of saving for retirement. But an old mistake haunts them: a financial planner convinced them to buy a mix of whole and term life insurance, which costs them $700 per month. Do they need whole life insurance, and where else can they save their money? Mike has $60,000 in cash earning one percent interest. He has plans to buy a home and get married in three to five years. Where else can he put his cash to earn a little more? Is the sto...
Nov 23, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep 350•Transcript available on Metacast #349: A frank and candid conversation about life, dead-lifting, and enjoying the hell out of doing meaningful work. For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode349 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nov 19, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep 349•Transcript available on Metacast #348: Aja’s mom is 75 and has to take required minimum distributions from her IRA. She doesn’t need the money. Where should she put it? Anonymous from MA is flummoxed by HSA-compatible health plans. His copay and deductible are awful, and even bronze plans seem better. Are HSA plans overrated, or does the math work out? Julia and her husband, both 27, want to retire by their early to mid-40s. Is there a point at which they should stop contributing to tax advantaged accounts and only contribute t...
Nov 09, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep 348•Transcript available on Metacast #347: Back in the 1960’s, Jack Bogle thought that actively-managed mutual funds performed better than a passive indexing strategy. He pseudonymously published a paper saying so. But academic data from the University of Chicago challenged his preconceived notions. He attended seminars that showed how the drag on returns that come from management fees and trading costs, coupled with the reality that the bulk of gains come from a hard-to-predict handful of equities (a concept known as “skew”), lead...
Nov 05, 2021•57 min•Ep 347•Transcript available on Metacast #346: Pensions make Chad uncomfortable, to the point of quitting his job to roll his $175,000 over to an IRA. Is the 12 percent match his employer offers good enough to beat the two percent growth of his pension? Or should he leave and never look back? Anonymous and his wife have $275,000 saved and a child on the way. They’re 27 and want to reach financial independence by 35. They want to buy a house, but with this crazy market, what’s the smartest way for them to use their savings? Anonymous an...
Nov 02, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep 346•Transcript available on Metacast #345: Let’s talk about one of the biggest expenses you might ever encounter: health care costs. When you get a hospital bill, do you understand it? After all, it looks like it’s written in code (and sometimes it literally is). How do you know if the bill is accurate? Has everything been coded properly? Are you being charged for the services that you actually received? If you need to dispute an item, what’s the process? Pulitzer Prize finalist Marshall Allen joins us to shed light on the complex ...
Oct 26, 2021•49 min•Ep 345•Transcript available on Metacast #344: Russell’s job offers the option to contribute to a 457 plan. Since he’s in the highest tax bracket, should he take advantage of the tax deferral offered through the 457 or invest within a taxable brokerage account? Anonymous is on track to be financially independent in 14 years, but isn’t living up to her potential working a boring job. How can she live up to her potential and do more without sacrificing her quality of life? C wants to know what tax implications she should consider before ...
Oct 19, 2021•1 hr•Ep 344•Transcript available on Metacast #343: The real estate market in 2021 has been bonkers. That’s the technical term. From 2012 to 2020, home prices nationwide rose at an annualized average of 5.8 percent per year. From April 2020 to April 2021, home prices climbed 17.2 percent. This sudden surge in prices has many homeowners and would-be investors fearful of a crash. The memories of the stark price run-up prior to The Great Recession are all too salient. What goes up must come down, right? Not exactly. In this episode, we walk th...
Oct 11, 2021•1 hr•Ep 343•Transcript available on Metacast #342: Russell is a busy professional who’d like to invest passively in real estate. Is there data he can use to compare this approach to owning and managing their own properties? Laura wants to purchase her first investment property in Miami. Should she cash out some RSUs and stock from her company to use as a down payment? And what type of mortgage is she eligible for since she already owns a home? Jordan and his wife own three properties and are under contract on a new house since they have a ...
Oct 04, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep 342•Transcript available on Metacast #341: Imagine a line. Cowardice exists at one extreme end of that line. Recklessness exists at the other extreme end. And in the balanced middle, you’ll find courage. Today’s conversation is about courage. We’re not talking about inspiring physical acts of bravery in this episode; rather, we’re discussing moral and social courage. The type of courage you need to make an investment. Buy a rental property. Invest in stocks. Start a business or side hustle. Retire early. Travel overseas. Have a dif...
Oct 02, 2021•56 min•Ep 341•Transcript available on Metacast #340: Imagine this: You start a side hustle. Maybe you sell planners or lead workouts in the park. You make a few thousand dollars during your first year. It’s fun beer money, but not enough to quit your day job. But you keep growing. You run this as a one-person operation, though you bring on freelancers or independent contractors. Your revenue grows into the five figures. Then six figures. After a few years, you’re running a one-person, million dollar company. This sounds like a pipe dream, ri...
Sep 29, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep 340•Transcript available on Metacast #339: Have you ever thought, “I’d like to invest in rental real estate but there are no cheap properties in my area!” “Homes in my city are too expensive. I’d have to invest out-of-state, but that sounds terrifying.” Or have you ever thought, “I’m curious about real estate but I’m not a fan of the idea of taking on all that debt.” Today’s interview is right up your alley. We talk to Rich Carey, who bought 20 single-family rental properties in Alabama, totally debt-free, while stationed in German...
Sep 24, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep 339•Transcript available on Metacast #338: This month, we’re running four episodes based around the four pillars of F.I.R.E. — financial psychology, investing, real estate and entrepreneurship. Today’s episode, which originally aired in April 2018, offers advice to investors who want to sharpen and hone their competitive edge. Here are three lessons from this conversation with investment writer Morgan Housel: Lesson #1: Great investors need patience and humility. Lesson #2: Read broadly. Don’t just read books about finance and inve...
Sep 14, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep 338•Transcript available on Metacast #337: Meet Kristen Berman, a top researcher in the field of behavioral economics. She’s the co-founder of Irrational Labs, which designs products that are evidence-based in the behavioral sciences. Her co-founder, Dan Ariely, is the James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, and one of the most famous behavioral economists in the world. Here are some of the (counterintuitive!) ideas that Kristen shares: Habits are overrated. Automate instead Budgeting does...
Sep 08, 2021•57 min•Ep 337•Transcript available on Metacast #336: Anonymous and his partner have a one-bedroom condo that they rent out in Pasadena, CA. The problem? They’re barely breaking even. Should they keep the condo, or sell it and make better use of the profits? Sam wants to know: how much of an emergency fund does a rental property need? Michael and his wife expect their taxable income to be less than $10,000 this year. Should Michael (age 56) take distributions from his 401k to minimize or eliminate their income tax burden? Shanon wants to swit...
Sep 03, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep 336•Transcript available on Metacast #335: Have you ever spent years studying the wrong major, climbing the ladder at the wrong company, chasing the wrong career? Have you spent years living in the wrong city? Wrong relationship? Wrong lifestyle? It’s hard to discern what *we think we want* from what we really want. Society teaches us what we’re “supposed” to want. And we follow along. The result is keeping up with the Joneses. It’s the hedonic treadmill. It’s lifestyle inflation. And it causes conflict, both within ourselves and w...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep 335•Transcript available on Metacast #334: In today’s episode, we answer three questions from a college senior named Rafael. He asks about productivity tools and tactics, student debt, Robinhood and market investing, and how to establish yourself as an expert in a given domain. We answer his questions by widening the lens. People often ask about productivity tools. “Do you use Asana or Trello?” But nobody asked Michelangelo what paintbrush he used to paint the Sistine Chapel. The discussion around tools misses the point, which is t...
Aug 25, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep 334•Transcript available on Metacast #333: In the 1890s and early 1900’s, we had recessions every two years. From 2009 to 2020, we enjoyed an 11-year bull run, the longest bull run in history. And when we finally had a recession, it lasted only two months. It was the shortest recession in U.S. history. The duration between recessions is growing longer (these days, we average 10 years between recessions, as opposed to two years at the turn of the previous century). And when recessions strike, we recover faster. The average length of...
Aug 18, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep 333•Transcript available on Metacast #332: Ginger’s financial independence (FI) number is $2 million, but she doesn’t want to fully retire early. Once she hits ‘coast’ FI, she wants to 1) buy her time back with outsourcing, 2) take a mini-retirement, and 3) buy a vacation home. Does it make sense for her to divert retirement contributions to these goals, or should she aim to save $2M? Wilson plans to have a two percent withdrawal rate in retirement. Given this low rate, should he go all-in on stocks? Or should he split up his retir...
Aug 12, 2021•59 min•Ep 332•Transcript available on Metacast 
