Author: Alyssa M

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    #345: How to Understand Your Medical Bill, with Marshall Allen

    ByAlyssa M
    [smart_track_player url="https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/paulaandjaymoney/AA345.mp3" title="How to Understand Your Medical Bill, with Marshall Allen" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ]

    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 world of medical billing. He breaks down the “explanation of benefits,” describes a step-by-step process for obtaining your medical records, and explains an actionable plan for how to contest a bill.

    If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the complexity of your health care bills, you’ll learn a lot from this concise, informative episode.

    Enjoy!

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    #341: Courage and The Consequences of Inaction, with Ryan Holiday

    ByAlyssa M
    [smart_track_player url="https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/paulaandjaymoney/AA341.mp3" title="Courage and The Consequences of Inaction, with Ryan Holiday" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ]

    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 difficult but diplomatic conversation. Express your feelings constructively rather than bottling them up inside. Raise an issue with immediacy rather than hesitation. Break bad news to someone. Ask for help. Launch an initiative. Try something new. We’re talking about the type of courage that’s required to become a better, bigger person in your work, your relationships, your life.

    We’re having this conversation with Ryan Holiday, the bestselling author of a series of books on Stoic philosophy.

    Enjoy!

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    #340: How to Make $1 Million in Business with No Employees, with Elaine Pofeldt

    ByAlyssa M
    [smart_track_player url="https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/paulaandjaymoney/AA340.mp3" title="How to Make $1 Million in Business with No Employees, with Elaine Pofeldt" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ]

    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, right?

    But it’s the true story of Laszlo Nadler, who created a line of planners and calendars. It’s the true story of Stacy Berman, who started leading 5:30 AM fitness bootcamp classes in the park.

    And it’s the true story of hundreds of other solopreneurs interviewed by business journalist Elaine Pofeldt, who took a deep-dive look at the lives and businesses of entrepreneurs who run companies that gross more than $1 million, but have no employees.

    In today’s episode, we take an inside look at the secrets behind one-person, million-dollar businesses.

    If you’ve ever considered starting a side hustle or business of your own, don’t miss this.

    This episode originally aired in March 2019.

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    #339: How to Invest in Real Estate, Debt-Free, from Thousands of Miles Away, with Rich Carey

    ByAlyssa M
    [smart_track_player url="https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/paulaandjaymoney/AA339.mp3" title="How to Invest in Real Estate, Debt-Free, from Thousands of Miles Away, with Rich Carey" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ]

    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 Germany and South Korea.

    He invested not just out-of-state, but entirely from outside the country.

    He bought his properties free-and-clear. And he did it on a military salary while raising two kids.

    This interview originally aired in June 2018.

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    #338: Why Investors Need a Latticework of Ideas, with Morgan Housel

    ByAlyssa M
    [smart_track_player url="https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/paulaandjaymoney/AA338.mp3" title="Why Investors Need a Latticework of Ideas, with Morgan Housel" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ]

    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 investing. Read from a broad multi-disciplinary array of subjects, so that you can form a latticework of ideas.

    Lesson #3: Play a strong defense.

    On the surface, it seems like playing defense is a conservative strategy. Emergency funds and a strong income-producing allocation, for example, both sound conservative.

    But in the long-term it could prove to be the opposite.

    Enjoy this interview, which originally aired in April 2018.

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    #337: Habits are Overrated, with Kristen Berman

    ByAlyssa M
    [smart_track_player url="https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/paulaandjaymoney/AA337.mp3" title="Habits are Overrated, with Kristen Berman" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ]

    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 doesn’t change your spending behavior.
    Commit in advance.
    Forget about the outcome.
    Focus on the process.
    You need accountability.
    Think about the Three B’s: behavior, barriers and benefits.

    Tune into this episode to hear Kristen elaborate on these research-backed, evidence-based ideas about how to improve our spending, saving and investing habits.

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    #335: What You Think You Want vs. What You Really Want, with Luke Burgis

    ByAlyssa M
    [smart_track_player url="https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/paulaandjaymoney/AA335.mp3" title="What you think you want vs. what you really want, with Luke Burgis" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ]

    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 with others.

    Today’s guest, Luke Burgis, discusses mimetic desire — how our “wants” are imitative — and how we can find our deeper truths.

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    #333: The End of Recessions?, with Ben Carlson

    ByAlyssa M
    [smart_track_player url="https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/paulaandjaymoney/AA333.mp3" title="The End of Recessions?, with Ben Carlson" artist="Paula Pant" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" social_stumble="true" social_pinterest="true" social_email="true" ]

    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 recessions is growing shorter.

    What does this mean? If we project these trends into the future, are we bound for the end of recessions?

    That’s the question that kicks off this discussion with Ben Carlson, Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritzhold Wealth Management and the host of the Animal Spirits podcast.