By Paula Pant
The stock market is near record highs. Unemployment is low. So why does it feel like young people have never been more pessimistic about money?
Beth Kobliner has been writing about personal finance for over 30 years, and she says today’s 20- and 30-somethings have […]
By Paula Pant
“Joe, how much did you spend on your wedding?”
That’s how this episode kicks off, and it sets up the theme running through everything else.
Joe and I help a couple figure out if their plan to retire together in […]
By Paula Pant
Cody Berman was 19 when he learned about financial independence, and 25 when he reached it.
There’s no trust fund here, no lucky exit. Just a brutal train commute, over 30 side hustles, and a gap between what he earned and what he spent that […]
By Paula Pant
Is there really a housing shortage — or do we just have a lot of wealthy people buying up all the good stuff?
That’s the question kicking off this episode.
Joe and I also help a woman simplify a $1.5 million portfolio she’s managing on her own for the first time.
And we help a […]
By Paula Pant
Would you trust someone with your money if the “interview” for the job was a fifty-page pitch deck and a decade-long commitment?
That’s essentially what happens every time someone becomes a limited partner in a venture capital fund.
I sat […]
By Paula Pant
Why can’t you buy Vegemite in Philadelphia — and what does that have to do with building a wildly profitable online brand?
There are invisible forces shaping what you buy. Where you live. Who’s around you. What your local stores do — […]
By Paula Pant
IQ scores have been sliding since 1970, and Lorraine Marchand thinks AI is quietly speeding that up.
She’s also in the middle of building an agentic AI board of directors for her own company — one she jokes could someday vote to fire her.
Lorraine teaches […]
By Paula Pant
What does it actually mean to have “enough” — and how do you know when it’s time to stop optimizing and start living?
This week’s questions all circle the same tension: how do you keep building financial security without losing the years you’re supposedly securing it for?
[…]
By Paula Pant
Why did New York City just freeze rent for a million apartments — and who’s actually going to pay for it?
This month’s economic landscape is anything but simple: a job market that’s cooling faster than expected, a brand-new Fed chair rewriting the rulebook, and a policy […]
By Paula Pant
What happens when a sudden $850,000 inheritance turns into eight different account balances, three rental properties, and one very big decision about your future?
When grief, real estate, and a six-figure windfall collide all at once, the fastest way to make an expensive mistake is to rush […]
Get your FREE Escape Book and Join Our Free Online Community.