Afford Anything

Category: Episodes

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#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!

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#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.

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#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!

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#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!

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#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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#484: Ask Paula: The Hidden Cost of Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Kristen’s financial advisor charges a 1.3 percent fee on her investments. They also sold her term life, whole life, and long-term disability insurance. Do they have her best interests at heart?

Casey has $290,000 in student loan debt. He committed 10 years to one employer for a chance at public service loan forgiveness. But five years in, Casey questions what he’s missing out on.

Sara feels like it’s time to move to a more conservative asset allocation but she’s torn between buying bonds from Vanguard or Treasury Direct. What’s the difference anyway?

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

Enjoy!

P.S. Got a question? Leave it here.

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#483: Thriving in a High-Pressure World, with Jennifer Breheny Wallace

Competitive. Results oriented. Driven to be the very best.

These are a few ways to describe achievement culture.

Achievement culture can also be described as stressful, high pressure and unhealthy.

Yet, there is consistently the pressure – internally and externally – to make more money, be a better parent, spouse, friend, or employee. These burdens comes at a heavy cost to our well-being.

Jennifer Breheny Wallace, author of the New York Times Best Seller “Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic – and What We Can Do About It” shares with us how to manage our need for success AND how to avoid the toxic traps that can accompany obsession with success.

She offers insights into the consequences of this culture on individuals’ mental health, and overall well-being, while also discussing practical solutions to common challenges.

If you’ve ever felt the burn of trying to do it all, or if you just want a smarter way to navigate success without losing your sanity, the insights shared in this interview will help you develop a more fulfilling and balanced life.

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#482: Ask Paula: Should We Drain Our Brokerage to Make a HUGE Down Payment?

A caller named “M” wonders if liquidating stocks for a larger down payment makes sense in a high-interest rate environment.

An anonymous caller wants to take a pay cut to pursue his passions. But 75 percent of his net worth is in real estate. Is this too risky?

Tiffanie hasn’t saved enough for early retirement, but she has a plan to use home equity to accelerate her goals. Is this going to work?

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

Enjoy!

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#480: Your Blueprint for Life’s Toughest Challenges, with Hal Elrod

The death of a sibling.

Being declared dead after a head-on collision with a drunk driver.

Suffering financially during the Great Recession.

CANCER.

Today’s guest, Hal Elrod, has battled all of these tough challenges.

His little sister passed away in his mother’s arms. Years later, Hal was hit by a drunk driver, broke 11 bones, declared dead, and once revived, learned that he might have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. (He eventually regained his ability to walk.) And after that, he was slammed hard in the wallet during the Great Recession.

But he’s a fighter. He needed to develop practices to build his resilience.

So Hal created “The Miracle Morning,” a morning routine practice that gained massive popularity when he released it in 2012.

The six-step Miracle Morning routine is coined S.A.V.E.R.S. — silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing (writing).

The routine became wildly popular, in part due to its flexibility; Hal explains that time-crunched people can start this as a six-minute routine; dedicating just ONE minute to each of these six steps. Over time, people can see the positive changes that this makes, and expand the time they allot for this.

The routine is now the subject of a documentary, also called the Miracle Morning, available on Prime Video. Midway through filming, Hal was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and given a 30 percent chance of survival. He let the cameras roll as he coped with his diagnosis in real time.

He joins us on this podcast to describe that experience, and to talk about the practices that he’s used to stay productive in the face of grief, severe injury and cancer.

He talks to us about:
— the powerful Five-Minute Rule that helped him recover from a nearly fatal car crash
— the six most popular personal development practices of the successful
— specific tactics you can harness to create YOUR most successful life.

As we move into the New Year, many of you are setting goals and resolutions.

Hal describes specific, actionable tactics that you can use to build scaffolding and support around your new goals.

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