Afford Anything

Tag: policygenius

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#219: Ask Paula – How Should I Invest $4,000 Per Month for Early Retirement?

Stella is working toward FIRE and wants to know: how can she create passive income in her retirement years? Is a portfolio with stocks and bonds enough, or should she invest in real estate?

Travis and his wife are also on the FIRE path, and are comparing their investment options. Travis is concerned about the inefficiency of reinvesting returns in real estate. How can you factor this into your decision when buying a property?

Stephanie and her husband are also interested in FIRE (hooray!) and they have $20,000 to invest. How can they best use this money to help them FIRE sooner?

Cade, a 24-year-old listener, wants to FIRE by age 30 (we’re on a roll!). He’s saving $4,000/month and wants to know how to invest these savings.

Anonymous and their partner are taking a mini-retirement and have questions surrounding the logistics of healthcare. What options should they consider?

On a different note, Amanda works in academia. After listening to Episode 12, she’s looking for tips on managing long-term, complex collaborative projects now that she’s in a leadership position.

Steve’s question brings us to the topic of building an online business and social media following. Should he have one brand for all of his interests, or divide these interests into separate channels?

I tackle these questions in today’s episode of the show. Enjoy!

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#215: Financial Independence in Seven Stages, with Joshua Sheats

We are really digging into the archives with today’s episode. This originally aired back in 2016!

Besides being another fun and fascinating interview, this is one of our most popular episodes. Which isn’t surprising, given the topic we’re exploring. 🙂

Financial independence means many things to many different people, which might be why we find it challenging to settle on a definition that everyone can agree on.

Regardless of what your personal definition is, Joshua Sheats, a financial planner and host of the well-known Radical Personal Finance podcast, says that financial independence can be separated into seven stages.

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#211: What’s Your Why? Financial Independence, Debt Freedom and More

Hey there!

I’m writing this from Croatia, where I’m beginning five weeks of travel that I’m calling my September Sabbatical. From now through September 23rd, I’ll be exploring the globe and enjoying a one-month break.

Today, I’m kicking things off with a community-based episode. Here’s the backstory behind today’s show:

There’s an event called CampFI, which is a 3-4 day gathering for people who are interested in financial independence. CampFI holds around half a dozen events per year in various locations; I spoke at one in Colorado Springs this past July.

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#204: Upgrade Your Thinking, with Super Thinking authors Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann

You make decisions on a daily basis about your career, family, friendships, health and investments; these choices shape your life.But how much have you thought about how to think?

There are common threads and collective wisdom across disciplines. These common threads create mental models, which are frameworks for understanding the world. Mental models allow us to apply insights from a variety of unrelated fields, using reasoning by analogy to make better choices about our lives.

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#196: Starting Over at 40 with Six Kids, with Wendy Mays

When Wendy Mays was in her early 20’s, she earned $12 an hour working as the office manager of a pest control company.

She wanted higher income, so she enrolled in college at age 22. By the time she finished her undergraduate degree, she was 26, married, with a child.

Her husband worked low-paying jobs to make ends meet. They struggled to pay the bills. Wendy decided to enroll in law school, so that she could bring in more money. She graduated around age 30, and became the primary breadwinner for the household. She opened her own law practice.The couple starting bringing in a combined household income of around $200,000 annually. They bought a large house, with a swimming pool.

Sounds like the American Dream, right?

Except it was all financed.

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#193: Ask Paula – I Spent Ten Years in School, and Now I’m Behind on Retirement Savings

Lori is behind on retirement savings, as a result of being a full-time student for more than a decade. She makes good money and lives frugally, but she’s aware that she’s behind for her age. What should she do?

Sierra wonders whether she should apply her savings towards paying off her mortgage or building investments.

Jenessa plans to retire at age 35, and she’s wondering if the 4 percent withdrawal rule applies for such a long time horizon. Her friend swears that it’s designed to cover a 30-year retirement, not a 60+ year retirement. Is that correct?

Jacqui is 24 and recently married. She’d like to open a 529 College Savings Plan for her future children, which she doesn’t plan on having for another 8 to 10 years. Should she do this?

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#189: Ask Paula – How Does My Net Worth Compare to Others My Age?

Julie, age 27, calculated her expected net worth based on the formula taught in the classic personal finance book The Millionaire Next Door. She’s concerned. Her current net worth is significantly lower than the number that the formula revealed. Is she on-track?

Anonymous wants to save for a downpayment on a home. Should she reduce her 401k contributions in order to amass these savings? Should she store some of that money in a Roth IRA?

Samantha is more than halfway finished with paying off her debt. In order to make this happen, she took on a second job. How much will she owe in taxes?

Maxime works at a job in which his 401k only offers expensive choices. Should he put his money in a taxable brokerage account, instead?Leslie’s parents are going to retire in five years, but they’ve only saved $65,000. What should they do? How can she help?

Clare is creating an estate plan. What should she be thinking about?

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#185: Ask Paula: How Do I Talk to Friends who Ridicule the Idea of FIRE?

Hello from Austin, Texas! I’m living in an Airbnb here for the next 5 weeks. Listen to the end of today’s episode to find out why … and discover how these next 5 weeks, for me, exemplify the “why” of financial independence.

In the meantime, though, the show must go on! Here are the questions that we’re answering in today’s episode.

An anonymous listener named Seeking FIRE wants to know how she can talk about financial independence with people who ridicule the topic. What do you say to those who laugh at the very idea?

Russell owns a landscaping company and is also a part-time student. He’d like to earn more money on the side, but his schedule is overbooked. What can he do?

Nick and his family are moving to the Washington D.C. area for approximately two to six years. They own two rental properties free-and-clear, and would like to buy a personal residence when they move. How should he save for the downpayment?

Gerardo lives in Mexico and wants to retire on his investment portfolio, using the 4 percent withdrawal rule. How should he invest, given currency fluctuations and other international factors?

Anonymous left her job and wants to know if she should roll over her 401k from her old employer.

We tackle these five questions in today’s episode. We also answer a comment from a listener who says that individual stock-picking and active management doesn’t get the credit it deserves.

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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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#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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