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You can afford anything, but not everything. We make daily decisions and create habits around how to spend money, time, energy, focus and attention – and ultimately, our life. Every decision is a trade-off against another choice. But how deeply do we contemplate these choices? Are we settling for the default mode? Or are we ruthlessly optimizing around a deliberate life? Are we creating financial independence, early retirement and debt freedom? Are we managing money wisely? Host Paula Pant i ...
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The Surprising Solution to Overthinking, with Jon Acuff
1:12:47
1:12:47
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#311: Do you find yourself overthinking and getting stuck in unproductive thought loops? According to a study commissioned by today’s guest, 99.5 percent of 10,000 people said they overthink. Chances are, you can relate. That guest is Jon Acuff -- a New York Times bestselling author who loves to nerd out about goals. In this discussion, he shares 1…
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Ask Paula: What Should I Do With $25,000?
1:23:40
1:23:40
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#310: Greta is tired of financial modesty. She wants to achieve financial independence through diversified income streams, and has her eyes set on owning local duplexes. What should she focus on to make this happen? Jeannie wants to know: when should you scale back 401k contributions so you can invest in something else, like real estate? Steph and …
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Are We Due For Another Housing Market Crash?
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42:11
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#309: Are we in a housing bubble? Are we going to see a repeat of 2006 all over again? Are there any good investment deals to be found right now? These are the questions playing on many people's minds, and we seek to explore the answers in today's First Friday bonus episode. We start by exploring some of the forces that are at play in today's real …
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Ask Paula: I Want to Travel After I Retire; How Much Should I Save?
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1:01:03
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#308: Ziggy purchased an $890,000 property in San Mateo, CA in 2016. After living there for a year, he had to move, so he rented it out. Unfortunately, it’s cash flow negative. Is this property worth holding onto, or should he sell? Vivek has a paid-off primary residence that he’s interested in renting out for a few years, before selling. He’s worr…
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The Tax Risks That Could Blow Up Your Retirement Plan, with Ed Slott
1:23:11
1:23:11
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#307: “Taxes are the single biggest factor that separates people from their retirement dreams.” That’s a quote from today’s guest, Ed Slott, a nationally recognized IRA distribution expert, practicing CPA, and bestselling author. He argues that there’s a high likelihood that tax rates could rise in the future, and as a result, we need to shovel mor…
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Ask Paula: How to Shift From Financial Independence to a Mini-Retirement?
1:14:22
1:14:22
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#306: Jake and his wife want to retire in five years, at which point they’ll have 14 years before they can access their 401k funds. To help bridge that gap, Jake wants to know: what should their asset allocation look like for their taxable brokerage account? This year, Kim’s employer enrolled all employees into a “fully funded indemnity program com…
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The 7 Steps to Financial Independence + 7 Rules of Investing, with JD Roth
1:26:06
1:26:06
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#305: Financial independence is a continuum, a spectrum. How do you know where you stand? In this episode, financial writer JD Roth discusses the seven stages of financial independence, the seven rules of investing, the formula for calculating your lifetime wealth ratio, and the importance of managing your career as though it’s an asset. For more i…
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Ask Paula: Help! I Can Only Save $200 a Month
1:20:23
1:20:23
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#304: Paige and her fiancé have two autumn 2021 goals: save for a wedding and an emergency fund. There’s one problem: they only have around $200 per month to save. How can they grow the gap when they’ve run out of things to cut and ways to earn more? Kat’s investor friend connected her with a wholesaler who only deals in cash. How can she find $130…
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A World Without Email, with Cal Newport
1:27:45
1:27:45
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#303: Can you imagine living in a world without email? Most of us can’t - how would we get work done? - but this is what Cal Newport advocates for in his newest book, A World Without Email. Cal cites a study that found the average knowledge worker checks various communication tools once every six minutes. At that rate, it’s a wonder we get any work…
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The Financial Benefits of Optimism, with Michelle Gielan
1:03:14
1:03:14
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#302: Did you know that optimists worry about their finances 145 fewer days than pessimists? They’re also more likely to save money, and are 7x as likely to experience better financial health. Michelle Gielan, bestselling author of Broadcasting Happiness, defines optimism “as the expectation of good things to happen and the belief that our behavior…
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Ask Paula: How Can I Reach FIRE in 11 Years?
1:27:32
1:27:32
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#301: Amelia is worried that she and her husband are under-insured. Should her husband get a short-term disability policy, even though it’s expensive and they’re unlikely to need it? Sarah wants to refinance her owner-occupied triplex, but she’s torn between a 15-year and a 30-year option. Which is better in her situation? Steven just discovered th…
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The Two-Fund Investment Portfolio, with Paul Merriman
1:21:15
1:21:15
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#300: Here’s the deal: Target Date Retirement Funds are simple, automated, easy. The problem? What’s simple might not be optimal. Investment expert Paul Merriman joins us to discuss the two-fund portfolio, a mix of one target date fund and one small cap value fund. He describes why this could be the ultimate portfolio for buy-and-hold investors who…
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Ask Paula and Joe: Should I Sell My $575,000 in Tesla Stock?
1:05:35
1:05:35
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#299: Chris bought Tesla a few years ago and Jinko Solar eight months ago. Both of these have gone up in value by a lot. What tax strategies can he use to sell these shares? Holly and her three sisters stand to inherit two side-by-side duplexes. How can they structure the ownership of these properties in a fair way? Eric feels hopeless about health…
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How to Talk to Friends about Money, with Erin Lowry
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#298: Money conversations with friends, family members, or significant others are unavoidable. Most of us dread these conversations - they’re awkward, heated, or draining. Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial Talks Money, shares tips and scripts for tactfully setting financial boundaries and expectations without drama. If you’re anxious about bei…
This morning, almost every major brokerage halted trading on the most volatile stocks, including GameStop, BlackBerry, Bed Bath & Beyond, Nokia, and AMC Theaters. We're in a situation where major trading platforms are blocking retail investors - us - from placing trades, while allowing hedge funds and institutional investors to drive prices. That i…
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PSA Thursday: Wall Street Bets, GameStop, and the Rise of Meme Stocks
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If you blinked, you missed the biggest stock market story since the crash of March 2020. It’s a story that led GameStop, a brick-and-mortar company that sells *physical* video games (remember when games came on 5.25-inch floppy disks?), to skyrocket its share price by 700 percent in two weeks. It’s a story of short selling, of high-frequency tradin…
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Ask Paula: Should I Househack or Pay Off My Student Loans?
1:13:18
1:13:18
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#297: George is torn between paying down his student loan debt (which he deferred) or buying a househack. Which is better for his long-term goal of reaching financial independence? Mario is curious to know: is his two-fund portfolio at a 90/10 split is a good asset allocation for his Roth IRA? Hanan wants to figure out if a backdoor Roth IRA conver…
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Investing is the Art of Probabilistic Thinking
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59:19
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#296: There’s a lot happening in the market. The Dow is at a new high, there are runaway stocks causing irrational exuberance, and yet, unemployment claims are on the rise. How can this be? To make sense of this, we discuss how improving judgment and using mental models can protect us against risks and short-term thinking. We review one question pe…
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What Your Childhood Taught You About Money, with Rachel Cruze
1:18:08
1:18:08
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#295: How well do you know yourself and the reasons why you manage money in the way that you do? You might not know at all, or you might have some degree of understanding, but digging into your money story can shed insight on your behaviors with money today. Rachel Cruze, four-time bestselling author and daughter of Dave Ramsey, shares three framew…
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Ask Paula: If I Were to Interview Suze Orman Again Today, How Would It Go?
1:17:24
1:17:24
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#294: Jeffrey is curious: if I were to interview Suze Orman today, would I agree more or less with her thoughts on the financial independence retire early (FIRE) movement? Matt wants to know: if a property cash flows really well, is it worth paying significantly more than the appraised value to purchase that income stream? Sara and her husband are …
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The One Question That Makes Everything Easier, with Geoff Woods
1:15:00
1:15:00
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#293: 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. For more informa…
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PSA Thursday: Kickoff 2021 with a 31-Day Challenge
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Sign up to take the 31-Day Challenge for an Awesome 2021 at https://affordanything.com/31daychallenge
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Ask Paula: I’m an Investor Who likes Volatility; What Should I Buy?
1:02:18
1:02:18
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#292: Three Kids, FI has an all-equities broad stock market index portfolio that he’s held for years. He’s confident he can handle maximum volatility, so what investments can he lean into to that will provide him with great long-term returns? Jordan is a new listener and he has three questions: should he use $100,000 to buy more rental properties o…
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PSA Thursday - Year-End Tax Moves to Finish 2020
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Welcome back to PSA Thursday, a weekly-ish segment in which we talk about how to handle money, work, and life in the year that is 2020. Today, we focus on the importance of end-of-year tax planning before you ring in 2021. We cover these tips: Open a retirement account Adjust your tax withholdings Check your 529 Plan Make charitable contributions W…
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How to Command Respect at Work, with Tracy Tutor
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52:24
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#291: Tracy Tutor is the author of Fear is Just a Four-Letter Word as well as the first female real estate broker on Million Dollar Listing LA. Tracy took her 20 years of experience in the industry and distilled the lessons she learned into this book. During our conversation, she shares tips and tactics for overcoming a fear of speaking out, how hu…
