Afford Anything

Tag: investing

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#446: Ask Paula: How to Build a New Career After Adversity

Paul suffered a stroke at 48. He’s on disability and feeling lost. How does he figure out what’s next?

Should Ashley’s aging parents spend a third of their retirement savings on a house?

Margaret is wondering if she could use her 401k for a down payment and save on her taxes.

An anonymous caller is concerned she won’t have enough access to cash if she retires at 50. Is an Indexed Universal Life policy the right solution?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.

Enjoy!

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#441: How to Invest in a Volatile Market, with JD Stein

It’s GRADUATION WEEK!

For those of you who’ve been following along this past year, you know that I’ve been completing the Knight – Bagehot Fellowship at Columbia University.

This week, my family and I are celebrating the countless hours of studying, all-nighters and eye opening experiences, so here at Afford Anything, we’re airing an important episode from our archives.

This episode addresses important questions we’ve been getting from the Afford Anything community, including:

• Where do I invest?
• How do I diversify outside of the stock market?
• How many individual stocks should I hold?

I’m looking forward to returning to the amazing Afford Anything community full-time as of June 1st, and eagerly anticipating sharing everything I’ve learned with YOU!!!! The team has big plans for the next year, so enjoy this episode and stay tuned for future announcements.

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#440: Ask Paula: Am I Saving Enough For Retirement?

“Barbara,” an anonymous caller from Episode 422, is struggling with a scarcity mindset. How does she stop worrying about the future and build the confidence to enjoy life now?

Samantha and her partner have lived out of their truck for 20 years. They sorta-kinda feel ready to buy a house and settle down. But they’re hesitating. What if they hate it?

An anonymous caller wants to retire and travel in 20 to 30 years. How does she know if she’s saving enough?

Trace plans to take a mini-retirement next year. Where should she keep her savings until then?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.

Enjoy!

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#439: Banks Collapsing?! What’s Next? – Plus ENCORE episode with Financial Advisor Michael Kitces

There are massive rapid changes unfurling in the financial world. This week’s biggest news: First Republic Bank collapsed; JP Morgan Chase acquired it. (As it happens, I was one of 12 people who was lucky enough to have dinner with Chase CEO Jamie Dimon exactly one week ago – just days before the acquisition. I tell that story around the 8-minute mark of today’s episode.)

The Fed issued a 10th consecutive rate hike, raising interest rates another quarter of a percentage point. Inflation is still double the target rate. And public confidence in bedrock financial institutions, as measured by a regional banking index fund, is in the toilet.

I talk about these issues for the first 18-ish minutes of the podcast, and then we switch to a replay of an interview that we held with acclaimed financial advisor Michael Kitces, which originally aired as Episode 64.

Enjoy!

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#435: Ask Paula: How To Prepare for A Layoff

Lee is 30 and facing a tech layoff. She can live for a year on her savings. She’s thinking about taking the rest of the year off. How should she prepare her investments?

Stacy wants to buy an Airbnb but she’s scared she’ll regret selling her company stock to do it.

An anonymous caller is tired of living paycheck-to-paycheck as a freelance artist. How can she stabilize an inconsistent income?

Danelle is a DIY investor. She can’t find a financial advisor who gives advice without insisting on managing her investments. Is she looking in the wrong places?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.
Enjoy!

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#426: Key Takeaways: Best Lessons from the Last Year, with Paula Pant

Behavioral researcher, Vanessa Van Edwards, talks to us about the critical importance of charisma – and how to use the perfect blend of warmth and competence to be charismatic.

Dr. Michael Slepian walks us through what secrets mean, what they cost, and how we think about them.

We dive into the world of long distance real estate investing, and talk about two of the major components of investing – Cash and mindsets – to help you determine if long distance real estate investing is right for you.

International best selling author, Julie Winkle Giulioni, reviews eight dimensions of career development and how to navigate them.

Chris Hutchins, entrepreneur and life hacker extraordinaire, spills his best secrets on optimizing spend to travel more cheaply.

Kiersten and Julien Sanders join us to discuss money topics for couples, and their framework for being financially independent in 15 years.

Stanford professor Jeremy Utley breaks down the art of creativity and producing new ideas – and shares actionable tips on how we can be more creative and have better ideas.

Dr. Daniel Crosby discusses how we are not wired to be good investors, and how to overcome our evolutionary wiring.

Enjoy this compilation of our favorite episodes to air in the second half of 2022.

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#409: Ask Paula: Should I Sell My Rentals to Buy More Stocks?

Liz and her husband are planning to retire in 5 to 10 years. They have rental income properties, but Liz is bored of managing these, and she’s intrigued by the idea of buying stocks at a discount when the market is low.  Should she sell her rental properties and use the money to buy stocks instead?

Rebecca is a high income earner and thinking about investing in a Roth 401k … but she’s scared of how much she’ll have to pay in taxes. Should she do it anyway?

Anonymous made big changes last year: she got a new career AND sold a house! Now she needs help figuring out capital gains and lowering how much she’ll have to pay in taxes … and she won’t have access to her company’s 401K for most of the year.

Kyle and his wife are moving into their dream home! What should they do with their current place?

Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.

Enjoy!

P.S. Got a question? Leave it here.

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#408: Build YOUR 15 Year Career, with Kiersten and Julien Saunders

When Kiersten and Julian Saunders began dating in 2012, they fell in love quickly, and their relationship felt strong – until they started talking about money.

They broke up as a result of their first money conversation.

Luckily, they got back together, figured out how to have tough conversations, and paid off $200,000 in debt over the next five years.

Then they started thinking about how to hack their careers. They came up with a plan for a 15-year career.

Today, they join us on the podcast to talk about the 15-year career framework and how to approach your career – and your finances – in 5 year stints.

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#402: The Psychology of Money, with Morgan Housel

Do you wrestle with the idea of leaving your savings in an account earning next to nothing versus investing it in the stock market?

Do you use investment strategies that allow you to work with your nature, rather than against it?

Are you careful to seek investment advice from those who share your investment goals, or do you get caught up in the trends of day traders?

Morgan Housel, author of The Psychology of Money, joins us to discuss why investing is not the study of finance, but the study of how people behave with money. Morgan is an award-winning financial journalist, former columnist for the Wall Street Journal and The Motley Fool, and one of the foremost thinkers in the world of investing.

As a long-term investor who shares our buy-and-hold philosophy, Morgan has behavioral finance insights that can help us invest for financial independence with more clarity and a better understanding of ourselves.

We discuss how to develop self-awareness around biases, the importance of flexibility for long-term strategies, saving like a pessimist and investing like an optimist, becoming durable in the face of market adversity, the key difference between patience and stubbornness (and how it affects your mindset), expectation management, the importance of bonds and emergency funds, and a difficult lesson about tail risks that Morgan learned at age 17.

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