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By Paula Pant

#234: 26 Easy Moves to Improve Your Finances in 2020

Last year, I issued the One Tweak a Week challenge to this community.

The Afford Anything team and I released a free book outlining 26 easy actions that improve your finances and life. We choose simple actions that you could complete in one hour or less (some are as quick as five minutes), which added together amount to major change.

We challenged this community to take one action per week for the first 26 weeks (six months) of the year, and we sent a weekly reminder email, each Sunday, to anyone who downloaded the free book.

We heard incredible feedback. Several people told us that One Tweak a Week helped them make huge improvements to their financial life.

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By Paula Pant

#233: Ask Paula – How Can I Retire in 12 Years?

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 for a used vehicle or stick it out?

Katelyn is interested in learning more about annuities. What should she know in order to make an informed decision?

Max FI and his wife want to retire in 12 years. How should they invest to achieve this?

Anonymous’s former employer offered a Roth and Traditional 401k, and his new employer only offers a Traditional option. How should he rollover his former Roth 401k?

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By Paula Pant

#232: How to Get a Debt-Free Degree, with Anthony ONeal

Anthony ONeal dug himself into $35,000 of debt by the time he turned 19.

His debt was unnecessary. He didn’t need this money to cover tuition or books; his father’s military GI Bill covered his college expenses.

Anthony took out discretionary loans — mostly in the form of credit card debt — to buy luxuries like furniture. Yes, furniture.

When he couldn’t keep up with the payment, lenders repossessed his couch.

He repaid his debt, vowed never to spend beyond his means, and became a crusader for a debt-free lifestyle. Today he’s the bestselling author of Debt-Free Degree, a book that teaches parents how to help their children graduate from college debt-free. He’s also the author of Graduate Survival Guide, along with Rachel Cruze.

Anthony joins us on the show to discuss how parents and students can defray or eliminate the cost of a college education.

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By Paula Pant

#231: Ask Paula – How Can I Get My Spouse Interested in Frugality?

Avie is looking for help in deciding between two good options: paying off a rental property, or funding a retirement account. Which option should she go with?

Sofia’s parents have been living with her for the past few years, but her job is taking her out-of-state. How should she transition her home to a rental property for her parents?

Lisa has a question about HSAs: when do you actually fund your HSA account?

Jim grew up frugally and has no qualms with this lifestyle, but his wife doesn’t share his views. He’s curious about how he can bring her to the frugal side, and how he can approach opening her eyes to starting a business so that she can stay at home with their kids.

Candice asks: what are your thoughts on online real estate investment crowdfunding platforms?

Kristen has a mortgage on her primary residence and a rental property. They’re both at similar interest rates. Which one should she focus on paying off first?

I answer these questions in today’s episode of the show. Let’s dive in!

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By Erin @ Team Afford Anything

#230: How to Develop Emotional Agility, with Dr. Susan David

Dr. Susan David, a psychologist on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, joins us to talk about emotional agility.

For the past 20 years, Dr. David has researched and refined the principals around this concept.

A few years ago, she wrote about emotional agility 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 the same topic, which went viral, gaining over a million views. She then published a book, called Emotional Agility, which became a #1 Wall Street Journal Best Seller.

The concept of emotional agility also won the Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award. She’s provided consulting around this concept with clients that include the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, the NASDAQ, Google, and Microsoft.

She joins us today to explain how to define emotional agility, how to develop it in your life, and how it applies to any goal that you want to pursue – whether that’s financial independence, early retirement, career advancement, or greater success in your health and your relationships.

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By Paula Pant

#229: Ask Paula – Help! My Mom or Dad Took Out a Credit Card in My Name. Am I On the Hook?

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 meantime?

Anonymous asks if she should live off an inheritance and max out her 401k contributions during her first year of working full-time. She wants to reduce her taxable income. Is this a good idea?

A different anonymous caller read a USA Today article claiming that “index funds are in a bubble.” How true is this? How can index funds be in a bubble?

Shawn is self-employed. He invests in a Solo 401k that features both a Roth and Traditional component. How should he manage this account?

Another anonymous listener is thinking about downshifting to part-time work. He holds around $278,000 in home equity. How can he capitalize on this?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I answer these questions on today’s episode. Enjoy!

Here are more details:

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By Erin @ Team Afford Anything

#228: What I Learned from Losing $170 Million, with Noah Kagan

In November 2005, when Noah Kagan was 24, he was hired as Employee #30 at Facebook.

At the time, Facebook was a one-year-old company with only a few million users. The company was growing rapidly, adding 50,000 new users per day.

Noah joined the team as product manager. He made a base salary of $60,000 plus 0.1 percent of ownership, equivalent to 20,000 shares.

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 starting his own company.

He became a serial entrepreneur. He tried his hand at a lot of things — including developing Facebook games, selling discount cards, creating a payment processor in the gaming space — but he’s best known for his two most successful companies.

In 2010 he started a company, AppSumo, which offers daily deals on software for small businesses. It’s like Groupon for online entrepreneurs. By 2012, AppSumo was grossing $4 million per year in revenue, with annual net profits of $500,000.

Yet Noah wasn’t fulfilled. So he pivoted. He offloaded the day-to-day management of the company to a colleague, and in 2015 he started a sister company, Sumo.com, which develops marketing tools for websites and online businesses.

In today’s episode, Noah and I discuss reflections on business, money and life.

Enjoy!

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By Paula Pant

#227: Ask Paula – How Can I Get the Most from My Mini-Retirement?

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 build his real estate portfolio. How should he approach downpayments – put down more to net more profit, or put down less to acquire more properties?

Wilson is wondering if it’s a good idea to partner with a friend on real estate ventures. What are the downsides?

Wilson also wants to know about real estate business expenses, and the pros and cons of short-term rentals vs. long-term rentals.

Sean has an inconsistent employment history and is struggling to find a lender that will give him a mortgage. He wants to know if there are any other ways he can get a mortgage for a 4-plex?

An anonymous listener is thinking about taking the leap into real estate investing and wants to know how to overcome the fear they have about it. Also, should they put all of their savings towards real estate?

Anonymous is also wondering: how do you calculate net worth when you’re married?

I answer these questions on today’s episode of the podcast. Enjoy!

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By Erin @ Team Afford Anything

#226: How to Make Time for Things That Matter, with John Zeratsky

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 a better way to manage his time – and his life.

He started deep-diving into time management strategies and eventually co-authored a book, Make Time.

If you want to learn how to redesign your daily schedule, you’ll enjoy this episode.

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By Paula Pant

#225: Ask Paula – How to Invest for the Next Five Years

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 out the other, but she’s bothered by the fact that she’s forgoing collecting rent on the other unit. Should she move?

Katie’s husband is going back to grad school and they want to pull money out of a retirement account to help fund this cost. Are they able to do that? Or is there a better option for short-term investments that they should use?

Cassie is in the process of finalizing a divorce. She and her daughter will receive between $80,000 – $116,000. Should they use the funds to buy a home with a 20 percent down payment or pay off their $30,000 debt?

Andy is curious: should you re-adjust the 4 percent withdrawal rule if your investment portfolio grows?

Joe wants to become self-employed but is concerned about health insurance. What are some affordable options?

Laura is close to pulling the FIRE alarm but her fiance wants to keep working. She wants to know what will change once they get married. Should they file taxes jointly or separately?

Doug is interested in learning more about equity sharing programs. Are these safe to invest in?

Tania wants to know: can you open and fund a Roth IRA if you haven’t worked in the past two decades, but earn alimony?

Brian took out a 401k loan to purchase a new car and regrets his decision. Would it be a wise move for him to take out a personal loan to pay back the 401k loan?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I answer these questions in today’s episode. Enjoy!

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