Afford Anything Podcast

Build Financial Independence, Escape the 9-to-5, and Live Your Boldest Dreams

#76: Ask Paula – How to Handle an Inheritance, Should I Invest in Properties or Start a Business, and More

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This week, my buddy Joe Saul-Sehy joins me to answer another round of listener-submitted questions.

Our first question comes from Hillary:
She’s a recent college graduate in an entry level job. She’s saved up an emergency fund, but keeps depleting it as things pop up. She’s also going to law school in a year and a half, which means massive student loan debt.

She wants to know: does she have to put her financial planning on hold during this time? Is there anything else she can do now to set her up for crushing debt in the future?

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#75: Jen Sincero – You Are a Badass at Making Money

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Credit: Brandon Soder

Jen Sincero says she used to be a “grouchy broke person.”

In her early 40’s, Jen lived in a converted garage, buried in credit card debt and scrounging for spare change.

She was the type of person who’d join her friends at a restaurant for dinner, order nothing except tap water, and fill up on the complimentary bread basket. She used duct-tape to repair her shoes. Her “splurges” consisted of buying new windshield wipers.

Despite her struggles, Jen believed that pursuing wealth was icky. She’d internalized negative social attitudes towards money, such as:

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#74: Ask Paula – How to Repay $50k in Student Loans on a $31k Income, What’s the Deal with Bonds, and Do I Really Need Insurance?

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This week, my friend and former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy joins me for another round of Q&A in our (newly!) biweekly segment called Ask Paula!

Kicking off today’s episode, Nicky asks:

I’m young and healthy. My car is old and not-worth-much. And my personal property isn’t exactly fancy-pants.

Do I *really* need health, auto and property insurance? Or can I drop these insurances and save the money?

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#73: What Chess Taught Me About Making Smarter Life Moves – with Steve Gossett

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Last January, I went to a party at a trailer park that featured a huge bonfire, a few llamas, and a member of Public Enemy.

(I realize that sounds like the setup to a joke. Welcome to my life.)

While I was there, I met a former competitive chess player named Steve Gossett. Steve is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who creates Princess Rap Battle videos for a YouTube channel with more than 1 million subscribers.

But that’s not why I invited Steve onto the show.

I asked him to join me on the podcast to discuss the lessons that chess taught him about money, work and life.

On this fascinating episode, Steve and I discuss:

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#72: Ask Paula — Should I Loan Money to Friends? How Can I Repay Debt Without Losing My Mind? … and More

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Spaghetti is a major part of my life.

I eat it, of course, as many people do. I also spill it all over my pants, despite the fact that I’m 33 and should’ve learned the rules of gravity by now.

But most importantly, I use spaghetti as a metaphor for my business. If I’m not sure if something will work or not, but I want to experiment with an idea, I tell myself that I’m just “throwing spaghetti at the wall.” Maybe it’ll stick; maybe it won’t. Either way, I have permission to try, permission to fail, and permission to get pasta stains all over my drywall.

This week, I’m starting a new spaghetti-throwing-experiment on the podcast: I’m going to broadcast “Ask Paula” episodes every-other-week, followed by interviews with guests every-other-week. This allows me to handle the awesome volume of questions that are flowing in (which I LOVE), while still enjoying intriguing conversations with fascinating people.

This every-other-week thing is just an experiment; I’d love to hear what you think. Do you want more “Ask Paula” episodes? Or should I return that segment back to its original once-a-month placement? Or am I overthinking this and I should really just get on with the show notes for this week’s episode?

Assuming you’re like, “Option C, Paula — get on with the show notes!,” here they are.

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#71: This Ain’t Your Grandpa’s Retirement – with Roger Whitney, the Retirement Answer Man

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Roger Whitney is known as the “retirement answer man.”

“All I think about, all day long, is how to make that [retirement] transition successfully,” he says.

But he holds a dirty little secret.

“I don’t believe in retirement. And the most successful clients that I work with … technically they’re retired, but they’re still working.”

Huh?

What does that mean?

In today’s episode, Whitney and I discuss the nuances of 21st-century modern retirement — and how this ain’t nothin’ like the traditional retirement that you’ve been taught to expect.

Enjoy!

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#70: Erin Lowry on Raising Children Who Are Enabled, Not Entitled

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On today’s episode, I chat with Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial, about the early childhood scripts that we learn about money.

Why is this topic important? Well, if you’re a parent, you want to set a good financial example for your child to follow. Giving them the right tools and information about money at an early age, as Erin’s parents did, can easily set them on the right path in life.

And as ‘grown-ups,’ many of us have negative scripts around money that we want to unearth and unlearn.

Regardless of your specific situation, one thing is true: we often inherit our money mindset from our parents. For better or worse, we unconsciously internalize their actions and thoughts around money, and it shapes how we view and interact with money today.

Erin shares the lessons her parents taught her about money in this episode, and discusses the impact it’s had on her spending and saving. (Hint: She’s always been debt-free and has set the awesome goal of being a millionaire by age 35.) [Read more…]

#69: Ask Paula – The Real Estate Edition

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This week, I’ve devoted a special episode of Ask Paula to answering questions about real estate investing.

Our first question comes from Ade, who has $25,000 to invest in real estate and lives in the Bay Area. Understandably, he’s thinking of investing out-of-state, and wants to know if Atlanta is still a good city to invest in. Where can the best deals be found?

Krystina lives and has four rentals in Vermont, but she’s sick of the cold. She’s thinking of selling the properties and moving elsewhere. She asks: if you had to start over, where would you buy and what type of property would you buy?

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#68: Ask Paula – How to Invest Your Tax Refund, Save for College, and Avoid Massive Pitfalls

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My buddy Joe Saul-Sehy, host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast, joins me this week for another episode of “Ask Paula (and Joe!)” — in which we workshop through questions that came from you, the Afford Anything community.

This week, Joe and I answer questions such as:

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#67: Ask Paula – How to Care for Aging Parents, Buy a Car, and Organize a Business

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It’s the first Monday of the month, which means it’s time to answer questions from the Afford Anything community.

Our first question comes from a caller in a tough spot:

Her mother-in-law is 66 years old. She’s divorced, holds no retirement savings, and will only receive a tiny Social Security check. Her health is worsening, and she’ll need to step away from work shortly.

The caller wants to help her mother-in-law … but how?

Our second question comes from Erin, a listener who’s moving to California and needs to buy a car. She’s new to the world of car-buying, and wants to know how she can get a great deal. What red flags should she watch out for?

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