By Paula Pant
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.
By Paula Pant
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.
By Paula Pant
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?
By Paula Pant
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?
By Paula Pant
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.
By Paula Pant
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.
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
Should a 48-year-old New Yorker who’s retiring next year buy more rental properties?
Should a Michigan-based first-time homebuyer use an FHA loan to buy a duplex for $135,000 that rents for $1,800 per month?
Should a 40-year-old music professor who owns a duplex transfer his property into an LLC?
Should a New Jersey condo owner sell her unit as For Sale by Owner?
And should a woman who’s anxious about owning her own rental properties dive into real estate crowdfunding deals instead?
I answer these five rental property questions in today’s podcast episode.
By Paula Pant
Chris Hogan is a former football player and Georgetown alum who became the Vice President of a well-respected company. By all accounts, he seemed successful. Yet he felt there was something missing.
He kept seeing families struggle with their personal finances, and he felt a calling to help. That’s when he met Dave Ramsey, who brought him into the Ramsey family to spread the word about smart money management and debt freedom. Chris has been a writer, speaker and influencer ever since.
Chris organized a survey of 10,000 millionaires in the United States. The last time anyone conducted a large-scale study of American self-made millionaires was 25 years ago, and documented in the classic book The Millionaire Next Door. While that book is fantastic, it’s also 25 years old. Chris wanted to gather current data, to see what’s changed since then, and what’s remained the same.
By Paula Pant
As an entrepreneur, Bob Lotich loves growing and expanding. But after a particularly stressful year, he realized he had burned out.
He woke up one Monday morning and, for the first time since he’d started self-employment, he realized he didn’t want to go to work. This was a new and uncomfortable feeling.
He decided to take a mini-retirement.
