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By Alyssa M

#338: Why Investors Need a Latticework of Ideas, with Morgan Housel

Here are three lessons from this conversation with investment writer Morgan Housel:

Lesson #1: Great investors need patience and humility.

Lesson #2: Read broadly.

Don’t just read books about finance and investing. Read from a broad multi-disciplinary array of subjects, so that you can form a latticework of ideas.

Lesson #3: Play a strong defense.

On the surface, it seems like playing defense is a conservative strategy. Emergency funds and a strong income-producing allocation, for example, both sound conservative.

But in the long-term it could prove to be the opposite.

Enjoy this interview, which originally aired in April 2018.

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By Alyssa M

#337: Habits are Overrated, with Kristen Berman

Meet Kristen Berman, a top researcher in the field of behavioral economics. She’s the co-founder of Irrational Labs, which designs products that are evidence-based in the behavioral sciences.

Her co-founder, Dan Ariely, is the James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, and one of the most famous behavioral economists in the world.

Here are some of the (counterintuitive!) ideas that Kristen shares:

Habits are overrated. Automate instead.
Budgeting doesn’t change your spending behavior.
Commit in advance.
Forget about the outcome.
Focus on the process.
You need accountability.
Think about the Three B’s: behavior, barriers and benefits.

Tune into this episode to hear Kristen elaborate on these research-backed, evidence-based ideas about how to improve our spending, saving and investing habits.

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By Paula Pant

#336: Ask Paula: I’m Barely Breaking Even on My Rental. Should I Sell?

Paula standing outside by a wall wearing a blue shirtAnonymous and his partner have a one-bedroom condo that they rent out in Pasadena, CA. The problem? They’re barely breaking even. Should they keep the condo, or sell it and make better use of the profits?

Sam wants to know: how much of an emergency fund does a rental property need?

Michael and his wife expect their taxable income to be less than $10,000 this year. Should Michael (age 56) take distributions from his 401k to minimize or eliminate their income tax burden?

Shanon wants to switch to an ethical bank with values that align with hers. How can she create a framework for making decisions about financial institutions when authentic information is scarce?

Sharon’s husband purchased a property with a below-market loan in 2008. They now have an extra $4,000 per month, and Sharon wants to buy a property as a first-time buyer. They’re torn between keeping the property or selling it. What should they do?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy joins me to answer more of your questions.

Do you have a question on business, money, trade-offs, financial independence strategies, travel, or investing? Leave it here and we’ll answer them in a future episode.

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By Alyssa M

#335: What You Think You Want vs. What You Really Want, with Luke Burgis

Have you ever spent years studying the wrong major, climbing the ladder at the wrong company, chasing the wrong career?

Have you spent years living in the wrong city? Wrong relationship? Wrong lifestyle?

It’s hard to discern what *we think we want* from what we really want.

Society teaches us what we’re “supposed” to want. And we follow along.

The result is keeping up with the Joneses. It’s the hedonic treadmill. It’s lifestyle inflation. And it causes conflict, both within ourselves and with others.

Today’s guest, Luke Burgis, discusses mimetic desire — how our “wants” are imitative — and how we can find our deeper truths.

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By Paula Pant

#334: Ask Paula: What Paintbrush Did Michelangelo Use? (said no one ever)

In today’s episode, we answer three questions from a college senior named Rafael.

He asks about productivity tools and tactics, student debt, Robinhood and market investing, and how to establish yourself as an expert in a given domain.

We answer his questions by widening the lens.

People often ask about productivity tools. “Do you use Asana or Trello?” But nobody asked Michelangelo what paintbrush he used to paint the Sistine Chapel. The discussion around tools misses the point, which is to master the craft.

Sure, we answer his direct, overt questions. But we also dive deeper, refining these topics and exploring the questions *behind* his questions.

This is an episode in which we peel layers off the onion.

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By Alyssa M

#333: The End of Recessions?, with Ben Carlson

In the 1890s and early 1900’s, we had recessions every two years.

From 2009 to 2020, we enjoyed an 11-year bull run, the longest bull run in history. And when we finally had a recession, it lasted only two months. It was the shortest recession in U.S. history.

The duration between recessions is growing longer (these days, we average 10 years between recessions, as opposed to two years at the turn of the previous century).

And when recessions strike, we recover faster. The average length of recessions is growing shorter.

What does this mean? If we project these trends into the future, are we bound for the end of recessions?

That’s the question that kicks off this discussion with Ben Carlson, Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritzhold Wealth Management and the host of the Animal Spirits podcast.

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By Paula Pant

#332: Ask Paula: What’s the Point of Financial Independence if I’m Not Going to Retire?

Ginger’s financial independence (FI) number is $2 million, but she doesn’t want to fully retire early. Once she hits ‘coast’ FI, she wants to 1) buy her time back with outsourcing, 2) take a mini-retirement, and 3) buy a vacation home. Does it make sense for her to divert retirement contributions to these goals, or should she aim to save $2M?

Wilson plans to have a two percent withdrawal rate in retirement. Given this low rate, should he go all-in on stocks? Or should he split up his retirement funds and invest one half conservatively and the other half aggressively?

Jennifer has a low-stress doggie-daycare, but she needs a bigger space to scale up. How the heck can she find a property to suit her needs in Austin, TX?

My friend and former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy joins me to answer another round of listener questions.

(If you have questions on business, money, trade-offs, financial independence strategies, travel, or investing, leave them here and we’ll answer them in a future episode.)

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By Erin @ Team Afford Anything

#331: Four Thousand Weeks, with Oliver Burkeman

Oliver Burkeman

Four thousand weeks.

That’s how long we live if we’re lucky enough to celebrate our 80th birthday.

Crazy, isn’t it?

We rarely think of our lifespan in terms of weeks. When we do, it seems painfully short. And that’s the point that Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks, wants to drive home.

Oliver, author of The Antidote: Happiness for People who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done,  is a self-professed time management geek.

But after reading scores of books, he concluded that most time management tactics result in an illusion of productivity. They don’t get to the root of why we feel the need to be time wizards. They don’t tell us how to overcome FOMO. They don’t mention the importance of relaxation or play.

Instead, most advice furthers the false narrative that we can do it all and have it all. This narrative leads us to endlessly spin our wheels. Just one more task, just one more project…only to have five more take its place by the end of the week.

If this sounds familiar (and exhausting), then Oliver has a different perspective to offer.

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By Paula Pant

#330: Ask Paula: How Do I Know If I’m Ready to Retire?

Linda is 58 and wondering how to account for her Social Security benefits when thinking through the 25x expenditure equation. Her expected expenses are $100,000 – $150,000. How can she figure out if she’s ready to retire?

Mr. Man is eligible to retire with a full pension, health benefits, and social security at age 48. He has 20 years to go. Should he include his pension and social security benefits in his financial independence plan, or think of them as extras?

“Timothy,” a lawyer from Colorado, has $250,000 in a SEP-IRA account that’s invested in mutual funds with fees ranging from 0.61 percent to 1.06 percent. Fees on these funds are projected at $200,000 over the next 20 years. Should he and can he transfer these funds to another SEP-IRA account? What are the consequences of doing that?

Alise has dreamed of living abroad for long periods of time and wants to buy a property in Portugal before the minimum spend requirement increases. Should she go through with this, or is there another way to gain dual citizenship or travel abroad for long periods of time?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy joins me to answer more of your questions.

Do you have a question on business, money, trade-offs, financial independence strategies, travel, or investing? Leave it here and we’ll answer them in a future episode.

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By Erin @ Team Afford Anything

#329: Challenging Your Confirmation Bias, with Economist Larry Kotlikoff

Have you ever thought about how an economist views financial planning?

Would you guess that it’s vastly different from how some financial planners approach this work?

Today’s guest, Laurence Kotlikoff, is a Professor of Economics at Boston University. The Economist named him one of the world’s 25 most influential economists in 2014. And he’s here to tell us this:

“What we, as economists, are saying with respect to personal financial matters — in terms of our advice — is almost a complete right-angle as to what conventional advice is providing on every topic. How to invest, how to think about investment risk, how to do basic planning for retirement, everything – every single thing – is quite different.”

Professor Kotlikoff has written 19 books and hundreds of professional articles and Op-Eds. He is a New York Times best-selling author, and his columns have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Boston Globe, Bloomberg, Forbes, and other major publications. 

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