How much is an hour of your time worth?
Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor, Laura Mae Martin, joins us to answer that question.
By Paula Pant
How much is an hour of your time worth?
Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor, Laura Mae Martin, joins us to answer that question.
By Paula Pant
Jason Tartick, a former banker and TV star from The Bachelorette, discusses finances in relationships. He describes eight crucial questions about money that every couple should discuss.
When a couple is dating, but before they get serious, he says, each person should divulge their debt-to-income ratio. This is your monthly debt payments divided by your gross monthly income. Keeping this ratio below 30-40% is crucial for financial stability. Banks consider this when approving loans.
Couples still in the dating stage should also discuss their credit scores.
If you’re thinking about becoming serious with someone, you need to understand their history with debt, and their attitude towards debt, since you’ll likely be co-borrowing together if the relationship lasts.
A couple with a good credit score can save around $100,000 on a $300,000 mortgage over 30 years.
Couples should avoid shaming or blaming each other during these money conversations, he says. The goal is to understand each others’ financial attitudes, habits and history — not to point fingers or make judgments.
After marriage or lifetime commitment, Jason emphasizes the importance of having both individual and joint bank accounts. This allows each person to enjoy autonomy, while also contributing towards shared expenses. Regularly reviewing your net worth as a couple provides transparency and helps avoid misunderstandings.
He also talks about financial infidelity — what is it, and how can you spot it?
Finally, Jason encourages couples to discuss spending habits, in order to understand each others’ values and goals.
Here’s a great question to ask your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse or partner: “If you had an unlimited budget, what’s the first thing you would you spend it on?”
The answer reveals the persons’ priorities.
By Paula Pant
Brian Kelly faced a harsh reality during the Great Recession – $65,000 in income and crushing credit card debt.
He started a simple side hustle, a website called The Points Guy, as an attempt to earn a few hundred dollars a month.
Fast forward to today: The Points Guy boasts 11 million monthly visitors and a thriving team of 140 employees.
In this episode, Brian pulls back the curtain on his incredible journey, transforming a fledgling side hustle into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.
He also shares his signature expertise – the art of redeeming airline miles and points – empowering you to travel smarter.
By Paula Pant
Feeling stuck in a job you hate, dreaming of exotic adventures? This episode is your escape hatch.
Brad Barrett, host of the ChooseFI Podcast, takes the interviewer role in this special episode, recorded LIVE at a comedy club in Brooklyn.
Brad interviews me (!!) about how I quit my reporter gig and traveled the world for over 2 YEARS! This episode spills the tea on my transformation from newspaper reporter to world wanderer, and talks about how this podcast (now over 500 episodes!) got started. Feeling inspired? This episode is your travel hack manual for designing your dream life on a budget.
Enjoy!
Written By Paula Pant
Welcome back to First Principles, the newsletter from Afford Anything.
In 1896, a young Marie Curie, Polish physicist and mathematician, became fascinated by uranium.
She was inspired by scientist Henri Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity, which took place that same year. Curie herself coined the term “radioactivity” to describe the occurrence of radiation […]
By Paula Pant
Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She’s famous for her work in radioactivity.
Lin-Manual Miranda is a songwriter, producer and director who won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2016, as well as several Tony awards.
What do they have in common?
They lived a century apart. They innovated in disparate fields. But they shared a similar productivity practice.
Both achieved greatness by embracing the practice of slow productivity, says Georgetown computer science professor Cal Newport.
Slow productivity is a three-part practice, Newport explains: (1) do fewer things; (2) work at a natural pace; (3) obsess over quality.
We’re used to thinking of productivity as doing more in a short amount of time. This flips that idea on its head, focusing on doing less, but excelling.
Slow productivity is the practice of doing fewer tasks better.
In this episode, Newport explains how the practice of slow productivity diverges from the normal ways that people in modern society tend to work.
If you’ve ever been challenged by the increasing demands of a fast-paced world,
Life can be stressful. Your to-do list might feel never-ending. This episode can help you focus on the few things that matter most.
It can help you feel less stressed, less busy, and yet — paradoxically — more productive, at the same time.
Enjoy!
Written By Paula Pant
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 […]
By Paula Pant
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!
By Paula Pant
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.
By Paula Pant
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.