Afford Anything | Make Smart Choices About Your Money, Time And Productivity

#364: Our first caller is curious about whether he should keep his 30 year term life insurance policy or let it lapse with 12 years left on the policy? Anonymous is wondering which financial products would work best for to cover her older age care and expenses? Max is thinking through real estate and stock market returns as they relate to future population trends. Ramon asks us about the details behind infinite banking. Do you have a question on business, money, trade-offs, financial independence strategies, travel, or investing? Leave it at https://affordanything.com/voicemail and we’ll answer them in a future episode. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#363: In our 20’s and 30’s, we have high levels of fluid intelligence, or raw intellectual horsepower. We can ace tests, impress people with our memory and recall, and analyze facts, documents and data. But in our 40’s and 50’s, we have higher levels of crystallized intelligence, which allows us to draw together novel insights from across domains. Fluid intelligence allows us to analyze, or break apart. Crystallized intelligence allows us to synthesize, or put together. Each type of intelligence invites us to express different skills, to pivot our role at work – or perhaps even to change careers or industries altogether. In today’s episode, Harvard professor Arthur Brooks discusses these two types of intelligence, and outlines how we can gracefully move from one strength to the next. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#362: David is questioning how to better manage his spending. He’d like a stronger framework to think through budgeting challenges. Elisa and her husband bought a home, and now they’re saving extra income every month. She has a pension and her husband is an entrepreneur. How much should they be saving for retirement and how should they invest their extra money? Geoff invested primarily in taxable brokerage accounts for the last twenty years. He’s built a $6 million portfolio and reached financial independence. He wonders about the smartest strategy for withdrawing from those taxable brokerage accounts to efficiently manage capital gains? Jenna and her husband are planning on buying their next home in a few years. She wants to know if I-bonds are a good way to save for the down payment and closing costs. 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. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Lear

#361: Wall Street Journal columnist Spencer Jakab marks the one-year anniversary of that weird time when the subReddit Wall St Bets pumped shares of meme stocks like GameStop and AMC Theaters, triggering a short squeeze that forced several hedge funds to lose billions. What did we learn from that experience? And how do we actually take down Wall Street? How do we launch a truly effective financial revolution? We share those insights in today’s episode. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#360: I’m worried my parents are getting ripped off by their financial advisor. What should I do? My wife is trying to qualify for student loan forgiveness … but we might lose a bunch of tax benefits in the process. Is it worth the risk? I’m enrolling in grad school, and I want to optimize how to pay for rent and groceries. Should I use money from a 529 plan? Three callers. Three questions. In today's episode, former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these tough Q’s. Enjoy! Do you have a question on business, money, trade-offs, financial independence strategies, travel, or investing? Leave it here and we’ll answer them in a future episode. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#359: Money, relationships, health and purpose: life is running smoothly when all four of these elements are working together in tandem, like wheels on a car. But how can we make spending and investing choices that facilitate stronger relationships, better health and a deeper sense of purpose? Andrew Hallam, who became a millionaire on a teacher’s salary, shares researched-backed, evidence-based insights into how to find balance, drawing from the worlds of behavioral finance and stock market history. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#358: Where is the balance between the risks and potential returns of actively and passively investing in index funds?Where do you place your savings after you max out your retirement and HSA accounts? How do you finance building a rental unit when there’s already a home on the lot? Is it more beneficial to buy back pension time with post tax deductions or a 457b plan? Or should I not buy back pension time at all? In today’s episode, former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I discuss the purpose and practice of mindful money. Do you have a question on business, money, trade-offs, financial independence strategies, travel, or investing? Leave it here and we’ll answer them in a future episode. Enjoy! Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#357: Discussing advanced investing topics with me is former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy. You may recognize him from the Ask Paula episodes, but we discuss financial topics shared in his new book "STACKED: Your Super-Serious Guide to Modern Money Management" - co-authored with Emily Guy Birken. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#356: How do you find balance between smart money management vs. missing out on opportunities? Should you pile money into investments or take that dream trip to Tanzania? What should you do when your heart leads you to a decision that doesn't make sense on paper? In today's episode, former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I discuss the purpose and practice of mindful money. Subscribe to the show notes at https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#355: When Jordan Grumet realized he has achieved financial independence, he fell into a deep depression. He didn’t know who he was anymore, he says, and he didn’t know what should come next. He learned about how to deal with us by observing his hospice patients. In this episode, Grumet, a hospice doctor, describes how working with the dying has taught him about life. Subscribe to the show notes at affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#354: Charlie in Cali has enough money saved to pay cash for a house, but she and her husband decided to finance their home, instead. They’d rather invest the money and arbitrage the spread. But one problem: how can they keep themselves from touching this investment? Jay is choosing between Fidelity and M1 Finance, and has questions about tax loss harvesting. Nicole and her siblings will be inheriting some properties that they eventually plan to sell. How should they set up or organize these properties among so many owners? Should one person take the lead? Do they need a shared business account? Also, how should they evaluate a property and make sure they get a good deal when they sell? Ed owns three homes, two of which he plans to sell in the next few years. He plans to live in them long enough to establish residence and take the capital gains exemption when they sell. Is his plan for handling the taxes solid? We answer these four questions in today’s episode. Enjoy! Subscribe to the show notes at https://af

#353: Daniel Pink joins us to discuss an unusual theory: (1) that our energy rises, falls, and then rises again; (2) that this pattern plays out across our days (morning energy, afternoon slump, nighttime second wind); (3) this also plays out across our lives, with serious implications for how we spend those “muddled middle” years of our 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Get the show notes delivered to your inbox by visiting https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#352: Anna and her husband have volatile income, but Anna thinks that having 18 months of living expenses is unnecessary. She’s torn between paying off her student loans ($30,000) or investing the money. Mentally, she always figured she would pay off her debt first, but wouldn’t investing pay off in the long run? Charlotte and her husband are taking a phased approach to financial independence, where they need to bridge two gaps before they each turn 59 ½. How can they calculate how much they need at each phase? Elle has a retirement plan in place, but her company is adding a Roth 403(b) option soon. Should she stay the course or adjust her strategy in these last five years before retiring? Sara wants to purchase land and build her dream house by refinancing her rental property and turning her current home into a second rental. How can she improve this plan? Joe Saul-Sehy, my friend and former financial planner, joins me to tackle these questions on today’s episode. Do you have a question on business, money, t

#351: Geoff Woods, Vice President of The ONE Thing and host of The ONE Thing podcast, is an expert on ruthless prioritization, habit development, and goal setting. The simple framework he presents allows you to focus deeply and commit to the actions you need to take if you want to take your productivity to the next level this year. Get the show notes delivered to your inbox by visiting https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#350: Anonymous and her husband have set themselves on the path of saving for retirement. But an old mistake haunts them: a financial planner convinced them to buy a mix of whole and term life insurance, which costs them $700 per month. Do they need whole life insurance, and where else can they save their money? Mike has $60,000 in cash earning one percent interest. He has plans to buy a home and get married in three to five years. Where else can he put his cash to earn a little more? Is the stock market too risky for such a short time horizon? Anonymous and her future husband are wondering: what’s a realistic amount to spend on a wedding? My friend and former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy joins me to answer these questions on today’s episode. Enjoy! Do you have a question on business, money, trade-offs, financial independence strategies, travel, or investing? Leave it here and we’ll answer them in a future episode. To subscribe to the show notes, go to https://affordanything.com/shownotes Learn more about

#349: A frank and candid conversation about life, dead-lifting, and enjoying the hell out of doing meaningful work. For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode349 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#348: Aja’s mom is 75 and has to take required minimum distributions from her IRA. She doesn’t need the money. Where should she put it? Anonymous from MA is flummoxed by HSA-compatible health plans. His copay and deductible are awful, and even bronze plans seem better. Are HSA plans overrated, or does the math work out? Julia and her husband, both 27, want to retire by their early to mid-40s. Is there a point at which they should stop contributing to tax advantaged accounts and only contribute to taxable accounts? Ileana and her family like their home, but it needs to be bigger. A cash-out refi didn’t give them enough funds for their dream renovation. Should they put their money into the market in the hopes that it will grow large enough to fund a future renovation? Or should they move into a bigger house, rent out their house, and fix it up years down the road? Nick has a seasonal business. Can a sweep account help stabilize him? My friend and former financial planner, Joe Saul-Sehy, joins me to answer these

#347: Back in the 1960’s, Jack Bogle thought that actively-managed mutual funds performed better than a passive indexing strategy. He pseudonymously published a paper saying so. But academic data from the University of Chicago challenged his preconceived notions. He attended seminars that showed how the drag on returns that come from management fees and trading costs, coupled with the reality that the bulk of gains come from a hard-to-predict handful of equities (a concept known as “skew”), lead to index funds holding long-term outperformance. At the time, index funds were only available to major institutional investors. Regular folks couldn’t access these winners. And that might have continued for a long time … … except history turned on a dime. In the early 1970’s, Jack Bogle got fired. Rather than accept defeat, he turned into a renegade. He launched Vanguard and began offering index funds to ordinary individual investors. And the rest, as they say, is history. In today’s episode, we learn about the revolu

#346: Pensions make Chad uncomfortable, to the point of quitting his job to roll his $175,000 over to an IRA. Is the 12 percent match his employer offers good enough to beat the two percent growth of his pension? Or should he leave and never look back? Anonymous and his wife have $275,000 saved and a child on the way. They’re 27 and want to reach financial independence by 35. They want to buy a house, but with this crazy market, what’s the smartest way for them to use their savings? Anonymous and his wife are 30 and hope to reach financial independence in five years. They want to know: is a taxable brokerage account the best place for their leftover $1,000 after they max out their pre-tax 401k contributions? Norm wants to buy a house in cash and doesn’t want his name on public record. Is it possible for him to stay anonymous? Sharon called in on episode 336 and called back to clarify her question. Her husband purchased a below-market property which has a cap that limits how much they can sell it for. Should t

#345: Let’s talk about one of the biggest expenses you might ever encounter: health care costs. When you get a hospital bill, do you understand it? After all, it looks like it’s written in code (and sometimes it literally is). How do you know if the bill is accurate? Has everything been coded properly? Are you being charged for the services that you actually received? If you need to dispute an item, what’s the process? Pulitzer Prize finalist Marshall Allen joins us to shed light on the complex world of medical billing. He breaks down the “explanation of benefits,” describes a step-by-step process for obtaining your medical records, and explains an actionable plan for how to contest a bill. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the complexity of your health care bills, you’ll learn a lot from this concise, informative episode. Enjoy! For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode345 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices