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#184: The Alter Ego Effect, with Todd Herman

In 2003, Beyonce Knowles-Carter felt shy about performing sultry lyrics and dance routines on stage. She needed a tactic to overcome her nerves and stage fright. So she created an alter ego, Sasha Fierce, to bring out her more assertive side.

Beyonce is one of many top performers — along with other top artists, athletes, executives, speakers, investors, bankers, lawyers, negotiators, and more — who use alter egos as a tactic to overcome their insecurities and become better versions of themselves.

Today’s podcast guest, Todd Herman, is an expert at the practice of creating alter egos to improve your performance in any arena of life. He says that crafting an alter ego can help you become a better worker, leader, manager, investor, and even a better parent.

Todd joins us on today’s podcast to describe the “why” and “how” of creating an alter ego at work, at home, and in social settings.

Here are six takeaways from our conversation:

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#183: Ask Paula – Should I Sell My Rental Property to Pay Off My Student Loans?

Should a newlywed couple with two cash flowing rental properties sell one to pay off $92,000 of student loan debt?

What percentage of your portfolio should you have in rental properties?

What’s the smartest way to approach rental property investing, particularly if you get anxiety thinking about tenant requests?

How much should high interest rates impact your decision to buy a rental?

I answer these four questions on today’s episode, plus, I have a big announcement regarding the future of real estate Ask Paula episodes, so check it out. 🙂

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#182: Thirteen Dumb Mistakes Smart People Make with Their Money – with CBS News analyst Jill Schlesinger

Millions of smart, educated and successful people make dumb mistakes with their money … and they don’t realize it.

I’m not talking about obvious dumb mistakes, like spending 85 percent of your income on a fleet of Ultra-Luxe-Fancymobiles for your 16-car garage. That’s clearly a bad idea.

Instead, I’m talking about hidden dumb mistakes that you may not realize until it’s too late.

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#181: Ask Paula – How Should I Plan a Mini-Retirement?

Imagine that you’re going to take a 6-month to 9-month mini-retirement. How should you plan? What should you do? Sure, you’ll need to have enough savings to cover your expenses. You might want to find some part-time work. You may need to sell off a few investment. And of course, you’ll need to think about health insurance.

But what else should you consider? And how will your first taste of voluntary unemployment impact your mental and emotional health?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I discuss this in today’s podcast episode.

We also answer a question from a New York-based father of two who’s trying to choose a health insurance plan.

We talk to a woman who wants to roll her six-figure SEP-IRA balance into a Roth IRA account.

We answer a question from a listener who’s moving back to Amsterdam with his wife and two children, and is wondering what to do with his 401k in the U.S.

And we answer a question from a man who’s wondering if he should invest in a taxable brokerage account, rather than focusing on so many tax-advantaged retirement accounts, so that he can more easily access this money before he turns 59 and a half.

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#180: The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business – with Elaine Pofeldt

Elaine Pofeldt, a writer for CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, Money Magazine and other business publications, decided to deep-dive into the world of solopreneur million-dollar companies.

What are the stories of entrepreneurs who gross $1 million or more in their businesses, despite having no employees? How did they begin? What do they do differently?

She interviewed hundreds of founders of non-employer seven-figure companies and wrote a book about her findings called The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business. Today, she joins us on the podcast to talk about what we can learn from this special class of entrepreneurs.

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#179: Ask Paula – We Want to Start Househacking in a Duplex. Should We?

Should a couple in New Orleans sell their single-family home and use the sale proceeds to househack into a duplex?

What do you think about turnkey investments?

What tax consequences will someone face if they transfer their property to their parents?

How do you handle tough situations related to the way some home renovation contractors treat women?

What’s the latest update on your real estate course?

I answer these five questions on today’s podcast. Here are the details.

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#178: How to Make Work Optional, with Tanja Hester

Tanja Hester retired at age 38.

She had a negative net worth until her late 20’s, thanks to a combination of student loans, buying expensive cocktails and clothes, living far beyond her means, and not paying attention to her money. If you were to have met the 27-year-old version of Tanja, you wouldn’t guess that she’d be a likely candidate for retiring early.

Yet a decade later, she’s saved 40x of her annual cost of living.

How? Tanja worked as a political consultant in Los Angeles, and during her career, ascended to important high-ranking roles. Every promotion came with more grueling hours, accompanied by a raise.

Tanja maintained her same standard of living, banking every raise. This simple strategy allowed her to rapidly grow her net worth.

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#177: Ask Paula and Joe: Should I Buy a House or Catch Up on Retirement Savings?

Imagine that your job is extremely well-paying, but you don’t enjoy it.

You’d like to switch employers, even though this will probably require a paycut. But before you make the switch, you want to accomplish two goals: buy a home and catch up on retirement savings.

Should you pursue both goals? Or should you defer the home purchase, given the potential future paycut?

If you decide to pursue both goals, which one should come first?

This is one of the five questions that former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I answer in this week’s podcast episode.

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#176: Digital Minimalism – with Dr. Cal Newport

Cal Newport created a philosophy called digital minimalism, which is idea of reducing your digital life down to only the most important core essentials. Remove the apps from your phone, then slowly re-introduce only the ones that are the most useful and beneficial. Take control of your smartphone, rather than letting it control you.

Digital minimalism is a philosophy of technology use. This philosophy pulls from the concepts of minimalism, essentialism, the slow movement, and the 80/20 principle, applying these ideas towards your digital life.

Cal discusses the digital minimalist philosophy on today’s episode.

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#175: Three Percent is the New Four Percent – with Larry Swedroe, Retirement Planning Expert

Larry Swedroe is one of the most respected investment thinkers and writers of our time.

He’s published 8 books on investing, including one of the first books to explain the science of investing to a layperson audience. He recently wrote an ultra-comprehensive guide to retirement planning.

He joins us on the show today to discuss the nuances of investing and retirement planning.

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