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Author: Paula Pant

March 13, 2024By Paula Pant

#493: Wall Street Secrets, with Your Rich BFF Vivian Tu

Do you ever wonder what happens behind closed doors on Wall Street?

Vivian Tu, also known as Your Rich BFF, is here to spill the tea.

Vivian grew up in a modest immigrant family. After college, she found herself working insane hours on Wall Street after college.

While working on Wall Street, Vivian saw some weird things.

Once, a coworker stumbled hungover into the office after a trip to Atlantic City, carrying a duffel bag with thousands of dollars in cash inside.

Vivian realized that there’s a group of high-income and high-net-worth people who handle money in drastically different ways than she learned in her frugal upbringing.

She learned about investing, taxes, legal loopholes. She discovered new ways of thinking about money.

She shares these insights — gleaned from her Wall Street days — in today’s podcast episode.

Keep reading...

March 7, 2024By Paula Pant

#492: How Does Side Hustle Income Affect Retirement Contributions?

Christine’s business is struggling. She needs more income. If she adds a full-time remote job to her plate, how will her retirement and finances change?

Rob enjoyed a banner year in 2023. He made over $1 million. But the sting of income tax has him making moves that violate his investment strategy. Is his tax tail wagging the dog?

Gena is excited to make the most of business deductions. Can she contribute 100 percent of her wages to a 401k and have the company match that?

Christina is tired of living like a pauper in the name of student loan repayment. Is Public Service Loan Forgiveness the answer?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.

Enjoy!

Keep reading...

March 4, 2024By Paula Pant

#491: Why Bitcoin is Back in the News | First Friday

Welcome, Emma Chamberlain’s fans!! Thanks for joining the Afford Anything community. You can find out how to escape the 9-to-5 grind at affordanything.com/escape

Once a month, on the First Friday of the month, we explore the hot economic and money stories that are dominating the headlines. These days, Bitcoin is back in the news. As of Friday morning, March 1st, its price ranged around $62,000, which is pretty darn close to its previous all-time high of $68,700.

But why?

Crypto was hot in 2020, but it faded from memory in recent years. What’s behind the comeback? And what does that tell us about how investments become fads?

Find out in today’s First Friday bonus episode.

Bonus listening: https://affordanything.com/325-bitcoin-for-beginners/ for a deep dive into understanding how Bitcoin works.

Keep reading...

March 1, 2024Written By Paula Pant

The Afford Anything Gen Z Beginner’s Guide to Money

Hey Gen Z friends,

Welcome to adulting and the world of personal finance! As Generation Z, you have the incredible advantage of time on your side when it comes to investing and reaching financial independence.

Leverage your youth as a time of opportunity and learning, thinking boldly about how to create the financial future you […]

Keep reading...

February 29, 2024By Paula Pant

#490: Inside the Mind of a Supercommunicator, with Charles Duhigg

Great communication will get you a raise.

It’ll get you promoted. You’ll land the corner office.

You’ll make friends and be the life of the party.

You’ll land business deals and form lucrative partnerships.

Supercommunication is a superpower.

But how do we build it?

Sometimes, you might walk away from a conversation with the joy of having made a cool new friend.

Or you snagged a critical piece of information that you realllllly needed. Or you successfully negotiated an extra $5,000 off your car.

On the flip side, sometimes you’ll walk away from a conversation, scratching your head and wondering … “What just happened?”

If either of these situations have happened to you, Charles Duhigg will help you understand WHY.

Duhigg is a Pultizer Prize winning reporter. He holds an undergrad degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard. He wrote for the LA Times and New York Times, before landing at The New Yorker.

His first two books, The Power of Habit and Smarter, Faster, Better, have sold more than 5 million copies. Recently, he came out with a new book called Supercommunicators.

He chats with us today to discuss the power of communication.

Duhigg shares why communication is a critical component to happiness and success in every part of life. He discusses the different styles of conversations that people can have, which lead to either connection or disconnection. He also shares critical tips to help us all become supercommunicators and live richer lives.

Enjoy!

Keep reading...

February 21, 2024By Paula Pant

#489: Ask Paula: What to Do with a Six-Figure Windfall?

Cara made $100,000 in commissions this year, her biggest bonus ever. What should she do with the money if she wants to retire early?

An anonymous caller and his partner have lived in an RV for years. They’re ready to settle. Should they sell most of his investments to purchase raw land and build an off-grid home?

Remy and her husband need to come up with $30,000 for IVF treatments. How do they build their family without breaking the family finances in the process?

Another anonymous caller is upset that the 401k plan he sold his boss on is charging him an Assets Under Management (AUM) fee. Should he keep the 401k at all?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.

Enjoy!

Keep reading...

February 14, 2024By Paula Pant

#488: Gut Instincts and Big Decisions, with Morgan Housel

Ever made a flippant, seemingly minor decision that radically changed the course of your life?

Morgan Housel has experienced this. At age 17, he made a quick decision that ended up saving his life. Sadly, two of his friends were less fortunate.

He shares that story in today’s podcast episode, and sheds light on the lessons he’s learned from it.

Housel says that his lifesaving choice — and many of our other important decisions — are snap verdicts, ones that we don’t spend much time thinking about.

If pivotal moments are decided in a flash, how do we navigate risk? How do we evaluate our options?

Housel says this comes understanding concepts that remain constant, consistent, and universal.

We need to accept that humans aren’t rational. We must appreciate the reasons why the best answer doesn’t always win. We ought to remember that we overlook many good things happening around us. These constants will most likely impact our futures.

Housel was named by MarketWatch as one of the 50 most influential people in the market. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Psychology of Money. His new book is titled Same As Ever.

He joins us to discuss the ideas in his latest book.

Keep reading...

February 7, 2024By Paula Pant

#487: Ask Paula: “Should I Put My Dreams on Hold … and Buy a House Instead?”

Luis’s wife is killing it at her side hustle. The unexpected income has led Luis to YouTube for hacks to capitalize on their surplus. Can a 529 plan double as long-term care savings?

Elizabeth is frustrated with the housing market. She’s been saving for years but isn’t anywhere near her goal. Should she give up and spend it on a dream pottery course instead?

Steve has a dilemma. He doesn’t borrow money on principle. And his wife doesn’t want to sell their current house until they’ve closed on the next one. How is he going to make this work?

Greta wants to “reverse” rollover an IRA into a 401k to avoid the pro-rata rule. Is that a thing?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.

Enjoy!

Keep reading...

February 2, 2024By Paula Pant

#486: Stocks are Hot. Jobs are Hotter. What’s Next?

By every definition of the word, we’re in a bull market.

The S&P 500 hit record highs for five consecutive days last week, and remained strong throughout this week.

The Dow is above 38,000 for the first time in history.

Unemployment has stayed below 4 percent for 24 months, marking the strongest jobs market in half a century.

And consumer sentiment, which reflects more pessimism than the data warrants, is showing signs of improvement.

The Fed met this week and decided to hold rates steady, as expected, but there are hints that they’ll start dropping interest rates within a few months.

Inflation isn’t yet down to the Fed’s target rate of two percent, but it’s getting closer — with one notable exception. Auto insurance has skyrocketed; across the nation, car insurance is 17 percent higher than last year.

Meanwhile, a shake-up in the real estate industry is creating tumult for the National Association of Realtors, which is facing its first serious challenge in 100 years. The outcome could determine how steeply you’ll have to pay when you sell your home.

Where do we go from here? What’s next for the economy? We tackle these questions in this First Friday podcast episode.

Enjoy!

Keep reading...

February 1, 2024By Paula Pant

#485: How to Start a Business in One Weekend, with Noah Kagan

If you’ve ever thought: “I’d love a business BUT …

“I don’t have TIME.”
“I don’t have MONEY.”
“I don’t have IDEAS.”
“I have TOO MANY ideas and I don’t know where to start.”
“I’m not technical.”
“I’m not creative or artistic.”
“I’m not good at sales.”

You’re not alone. Countless people don’t start businesses or side hustles for these reasons.

And they’re losing thousands — perhaps millions — in opportunity cost.

How much could you make if you started a side hustle that eventually scaled into a business? Possibly millions. Today’s guest, Noah Kagan, is living proof.

Noah was employee #30 at Facebook. His stock options, if fully vested, would be worth over $1 billion today.

(If you want to do the math — his stock options came to 0.1 percent of the company, which has a current market cap of $1 trillion.)

But Noah was fired just a couple months before his stock options vested. So rather than getting a billion-dollar payout, he got nothing.

He sank into a deep depression, eventually recovering with the help of a therapist who counseled him on how to reframe the experience.

Then he rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He became a serial entrepreneur, building multiple businesses. His most successful venture now makes $80 million in gross revenue, and his personal take-home is $3.3 million per year (which comes from a $200,000 annual salary and $3.1 million profit distribution.) His net worth is $36 million.

Not a billion, but still not too shabby.

Noah recently wrote a book called “Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours.”

He sits down with us (in person!) to share:

— how to find business ideas
— how to overcome objections and rejections
— how to scale

By the end of the episode, the common objections that you often hear — like “I don’t have time/money/ideas” — will be quashed.

Please enjoy!

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Afford Anything

  • Start Here
    • About
    • Team Afford Anything
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    • Questions?
  • Blog
    • Binge
  • Podcast
    • Binge
    • Sponsors
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    • Guest Guidelines
  • Community
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  • Explore
    • Your First Rental Property
    • Travel
    • Start a Blog
    • Earn Extra Income