I have an ideal self, and a present self. My ideal self exercises daily. She hikes or climbs at least twice a week. She eats plenty of vegetables. She explores ideas that fascinate her. She reads one to two books a week, making copious notes and annotations throughout. Brilliant blog posts emerge as the natural,…
Jen Sincero says she used to be a “grouchy broke person.” In her early 40’s, Jen lived in a converted garage, buried in credit card debt and scrounging for spare change. She was the type of person who’d join her friends at a restaurant for dinner, order nothing except tap water, and fill up on…
This week, my friend and former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy joins me for another round of Q&A in our (newly!) biweekly segment called Ask Paula! Kicking off today’s episode, Nicky asks: I’m young and healthy. My car is old and not-worth-much. And my personal property isn’t exactly fancy-pants. Do I *really* need health, auto and…
Last January, I went to a party at a trailer park that featured a huge bonfire, a few llamas, and a member of Public Enemy. (I realize that sounds like the setup to a joke. Welcome to my life.) While I was there, I met a former competitive chess player named Steve Gossett. Steve is…
Spaghetti is a major part of my life. I eat it, of course, as many people do. I also spill it all over my pants, despite the fact that I’m 33 and should’ve learned the rules of gravity by now. But most importantly, I use spaghetti as a metaphor for my business. If I’m not…
Roger Whitney is known as the “retirement answer man.” “All I think about, all day long, is how to make that [retirement] transition successfully,” he says. But he holds a dirty little secret. “I don’t believe in retirement. And the most successful clients that I work with … technically they’re retired, but they’re still working.”…
On today’s episode, I chat with Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial, about the early childhood scripts that we learn about money. Why is this topic important? Well, if you’re a parent, you want to set a good financial example for your child to follow. Giving them the right tools and information about money at…
This week, I’ve devoted a special episode of Ask Paula to answering questions about real estate investing. Our first question comes from Ade, who has $25,000 to invest in real estate and lives in the Bay Area. Understandably, he’s thinking of investing out-of-state, and wants to know if Atlanta is still a good city to…
My buddy Joe Saul-Sehy, host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast, joins me this week for another episode of “Ask Paula (and Joe!)” — in which we workshop through questions that came from you, the Afford Anything community. This week, Joe and I answer questions such as:
It’s the first Monday of the month, which means it’s time to answer questions from the Afford Anything community. Our first question comes from a caller in a tough spot: Her mother-in-law is 66 years old. She’s divorced, holds no retirement savings, and will only receive a tiny Social Security check. Her health is worsening,…