Written By Paula Pant
A few months ago, I got an invitation to speak at Google.
“Cool,” I thought. “That’s, like, grown-up stuff!”
The invitation came from one of my podcast listeners, David Moltz, who works at the company’s Los Angeles office and who hosted the hour-long Q&A.
“Could you talk about financial independence,” he asked me, “but maybe leave out the part about everyone quitting their job?”
“Haha! Sure thing,” I replied.
By Paula Pant
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.
By Paula Pant
Welcome to the September 2018 First Friday bonus episode!
We recorded this episode at Camp FI, which stands for Camp Financial Independence. It’s a gathering of people who are pursuing financial independence; we spend a few days eating, drinking, and having late-night poolside conversations about money. There are several Camp FI’s throughout the year; I […]
Written By Paula Pant
The idea behind financial independence is that your passive income — typically through investments — is enough.
But how much is enough? Enough for what?
The typical reaction that many people have to this question is to define “enough” based on their current standard of living.
For example: “Right now, my spouse and I […]
Written By Paula Pant
I love to read. If you share my enthusiasm, you might enjoy this variety of books about money, work and life that I recommend.
Feel free to scroll, or click on one of these links to skip ahead to your favorite section.
Productivity Books Money Mindset Books Investing Books Real Estate Books
Productivity […]
Written By Paula Pant
Once upon a time, in southern California in 1994, there lived a man named William Bengen.⠀
His friends called him Bill.
Bill was born in Brooklyn, and he studied aeronautics at MIT. He wrote a big paper on advanced model rocketry. Then he became an executive at a soft drink company. Finally, 17 years […]
Written By Paula Pant
A few years ago, my friend J.D. Roth told me a story that’s stuck in my mind ever since. ⠀
⠀
During his 20’s and early 30’s, J.D. was broke and in credit card debt. But in his mid-30’s, he started a business, and within three years, he sold it for a […]
Written By Paula Pant
Brandon always wanted to be wealthy. He just didn’t know why.
“I don’t like fancy cars, and big houses just seem inefficient,” he said. “I just wanted to have money to manage.”
But in 2011, Brandon discovered the concept of financial independence.
“That just blew my mind — it was just like, oh, I […]
By Paula Pant
Over a year-and-a-half and two million plus downloads later, the Afford Anything podcast has hit another awesome milestone: the 100th episode!
To celebrate, I recorded this one live from Ecuador with my good friend Brandon, otherwise known as the Mad FIentist. (You can watch the video here.)
If you’ve been a listener since the […]
Written By Paula Pant
I’d like to explain … well … why this website exists.
Afford Anything promotes a handful of radical ideas:
#1: You can create financial independence — the ability to quit trading-time-for-money, because your investments cover your bills.
#2: Financial independence comes from passive income.
#3: To build passive income, you’ll first need to create a […]
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