Build a Better Life

With Paula Pant

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#174: Ask Paula – I’m 48 and Retiring Next Year. Should I Buy More Rentals?

Should a 48-year-old New Yorker who’s retiring next year buy more rental properties?

Should a Michigan-based first-time homebuyer use an FHA loan to buy a duplex for $135,000 that rents for $1,800 per month?

Should a 40-year-old music professor who owns a duplex transfer his property into an LLC?

Should a New Jersey condo owner sell her unit as For Sale by Owner?

And should a woman who’s anxious about owning her own rental properties dive into real estate crowdfunding deals instead?

I answer these five rental property questions in today’s podcast episode.

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#173: When a Child of Financial Chaos Stumbles into Adulthood – with Paulette Perhach

Paulette Perhach is a journalist who has been published in The New York Times, Slate, ELLE, Marie Claire, and Cosmo.

She catapulted to fame as an accidental personal finance writer after she published an article called The Story of an F-Off Fund.

This article tells the same narrative twice: in Scenario A, the protagonist in the story doesn’t have any emergency savings, and in Scenario B, she does. Paulette wrote this as a work of narrative fiction that vividly shows the power of an emergency fund, or as she rebrands it, an F-Off Fund.

This story went viral. More than a million people read it, it was translated into multiple languages, and it landed her a book deal and a major profile in the Seattle Times.

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#172: Ask Paula – Should I Buy a Nice Car or Save My Money?

Should a 25-year-old homeowner with healthy savings and no debt (other than his mortgage) upgrade his car? Should he make this choice if his current car is fine, and upgrading puts him into new debt?

Should a couple without access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan put their savings into a taxable account, or should they save for a downpayment on a rental property?

The market is fluctuating like mad; if someone has a lump-sum of cash, should they invest it now or should they slowly meter it in?

Should someone without an emergency fund enroll in an HSA-qualified health insurance plan? Or should they stick with a plan that has a smaller deductible?

How should a husband-and-wife team that’s self-employed and running a company together handle their health insurance?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I answer these five questions on today’s podcast. Enjoy!

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#171: The biggest study of everyday millionaires in 25 years – with Chris Hogan

Chris Hogan is a former football player and Georgetown alum who became the Vice President of a well-respected company. By all accounts, he seemed successful. Yet he felt there was something missing.

He kept seeing families struggle with their personal finances, and he felt a calling to help. That’s when he met Dave Ramsey, who brought him into the Ramsey family to spread the word about smart money management and debt freedom. Chris has been a writer, speaker and influencer ever since.

Chris organized a survey of 10,000 millionaires in the United States. The last time anyone conducted a large-scale study of American self-made millionaires was 25 years ago, and documented in the classic book The Millionaire Next Door. While that book is fantastic, it’s also 25 years old. Chris wanted to gather current data, to see what’s changed since then, and what’s remained the same.

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#170: Ask Paula – When Should I NOT Use the One Percent Rule for a Rental Property?

When should you NOT use the one percent rule for rental property investing? In today’s episode, I encourage two callers to violate the One Percent Rule for real estate that they already own.

WHAAATTTT? Why would I say that? Especially given that I’ve gained a bit of a reputation as The World’s Most Staunch Advocate of the One Percent Rule? (Long title, I know, but someone’s gotta wear it.)

And if you’re not going to use the One Percent Rule, how should you make decisions about your real estate investments instead?

Find out in this podcast episode. Enjoy!

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#169: One Tweak a Week in 2019 — Easy Improvements to Your Financial Life in 2019

Happy New Years! To kickoff 2019, we’ve created a free book called One Tweak a Week, outlining 26 easy, actionable ways that you can improve your financial life.

Today’s podcast episode covers these 26 tweaks, so you can listen in audio format, in addition to reading the book.

If you put these into action for the first six months of 2019, you’ll be in a stronger position in June than you started in January.

Each tweak takes less than one hour (some are as quick as five minutes), and taken together, these tweaks can accumulate into a serious impact.

Improve your money management and get closer to financial independence with our free book, One Tweak a Week. You can download it here: https://affordanything.com/2019

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#168: How to Optimize Your Time and Energy — with Mike Vardy, The Productivityist

You can do anything, but not everything … and definitely not everything at the same time.

How can you optimize your time and energy? How do you choose what’s worthwhile and what’s a waste of time?

How can you eliminate small decisions so that your mind is free to focus on the few choices that make a massive 10x impact?

How can you spend less time struggling with your Inbox, and more time on long-term projects that can boost your income?

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#167: Ask Paula – Should I Pay Off Student Loans While in School?

Angelisa is a college senior with $30,000 in student loans. She has a part-time job, from which she’s saved $2,500. Should she keep saving money, or should she get a headstart on paying down her student loans while she’s in school?

Mackenzie is also a college senior with some student loans. She recently received a settlement from a car accident. Should she invest this money? If so, how?

Franchesca is 35 and is carrying $212,000 in debt, mostly student loans. Could she reach financial independence, even with a late start?

Erica wants to make environmentally-friendly investments. How should she approach this?

Caroline is 42 and has started making after-tax (non-Roth) 401k contributions. Is this a good idea?

An anonymous listener is curious about podcasting. How did I get started?

I answer these six questions on today’s podcast episode, alongside former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy. Enjoy!

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#166: Everything I Learned About Money Came from My Grandmother – with Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post

Michelle Singletary learned everything she knows about money from her grandmother.

Well, okay, I shouldn’t say “everything” that she knows. After all, Michelle also has an MBA from Johns Hopkins University. She writes about personal finance for the Washington Post. Her nationally-syndicated personal finance column, The Color of Money, is published in more than 100 newspapers nationwide. She’s written three financial books.

Oh, and guess what? Her column was nominated for a Pulitzer.

Michelle has been learning, thinking, writing, researching and speaking about money management for decades. Yet the most important education she received, she says, came from the lessons her grandmother taught her.

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#165: Ask Paula – Should I Invest in Index Funds or Rental Properties?

Should Kim, an entrepreneur, invest in index funds or rental properties?

Should Nick, an MBA student, househack into a more-expensive home with stronger cash flow, or a cheaper home with more budgetary wiggle room?

Should Kelly, who is getting married soon, sell her current home and use the proceeds to buy multiple rentals? Or should she use her current home as a rental property?

Should Trayci and her sister invest in rental properties or bare land?

I answer these four questions in today’s episode.

We’re a weekly show, but on the first Friday of the month, we air a bonus episode. This is our December 2018 First Friday Bonus Episode.

Enjoy!

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