By Paula Pant
Antonia, 27, wants to retire in 15 years. She’s trying to figure out whether to contribute to pre-tax or after-tax retirement accounts.
Most financial advice for 20-somethings that she’s encountered says to contribute to after-tax (Roth) retirement accounts. These articles assume that a 27-year-old will continue earning money for the next 30+ years, presumably […]
By Paula Pant
Your income, debt, spending habits and net worth aren’t merely a function of your actions. They’re a reflection of your deep-seated inner psychology around money.
Dr. Brad Klontz, a clinical psychologist and financial planner, joins me on today’s show to discuss four “money scripts” that may be harming us. These scripts include:
Money avoidance — […]
By Paula Pant
It’s time to answer real estate investing questions!
Tom asks:
“We’re thinking about buying a duplex on a beach in a popular vacation destination in Florida. If the property stays 85 percent occupied as a short-term (VRBO) rental at current rates, the income from one unit of the duplex could cover the costs of a […]
By Paula Pant
Morgan Housel has spent thousands of hours reading about investing.
As a former columnist for the Wall Street Journal and The Motley Fool, he’s spent more than a decade reading, interviewing, thinking and writing about how to manage money.
And he’s come to a simple conclusion: less is more.
Doing nothing is often the best […]
By Paula Pant
This week, former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I answer five questions about investing, retirement, insurance, travel and selling an expensive car.
Eliana is 25 and makes $63,000 per year, plus a little extra from freelance work. She holds $95,000 in cash, $67,000 in retirement investments, and no debt. She doesn’t necessarily hold early retirement […]
By Paula Pant
In the 1970’s, a woman named Vicki Robin teamed up with a man named Joe Dominguez.
They came from different backgrounds: she was an Ivy League graduate with a comfortable upbringing; he was raised in Spanish Harlem on “welfare cheese.”
But they shared one common thread: a commitment to financial independence, not just as a […]
By Paula Pant
Tony lives in Chicago, where the returns on rental properties are so-so. He’s thinking about investing in Indianapolis, where he consistently finds rental properties with cap rates that are greater than 8 percent. Should he invest locally, so that he can get a primary residence mortgage and keep a closer eye on the space? […]
By Paula Pant
After Liz Thames graduated from college, she couldn’t find a job.
“Nowhere would hire me,” Thames says. “I had what I thought was this nice resume, and I sent out over 50 applications. Nowhere called me back.”
She took a temporary job at a document-scanning agency, then joined Americorps to serve as a full-time volunteer […]
By Paula Pant
Roger Whitney, age 51, calls himself The Retirement Answer Man. As a financial planner, investment analyst and podcast host, he focuses on helping Baby Boomers craft a traditional (past-age-60) retirement.
Today, he joins me to answer two questions that come in from our community.
Our first question is from Emily, who says:
“I’m trying […]
By Paula Pant
Once upon a time, in southern California in 1994, there lived a man named William Bengen.
He read many claims, widespread at the time, that said that since the markets return at least 7-9 percent compounding rates on average, retirees could withdraw and spend 7 percent of their portfolio.
William had a hunch that this […]
