Afford Anything

#95: J. David Stein used to manage billions of dollars. He retired at age 46. Now that he's retired, he faces a different challenge: How should he invest his own money? What investing philosophy should he follow in his own life? And what can we learn from that? Stein, who now hosts a podcast called Money for the Rest of Us, joins me on today's show to talk about his big-picture investing ideas. For a list of my takeaways, go to http://affordanything.com/episode95 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#94: Early retirement? Yes please. This week, I answer questions from the audience community around early retirement planning, health savings and debt pay-off. I'm interested in early retirement. How can I avoid early withdrawal penalties? How does early retirement impact the 4 Percent Rule? Should I use an HRA or an HSA? How do I open a Roth IRA? If you’re into early retirement, don’t miss today’s episode. For complete resources and show notes, go to http://affordanything.com/episode94 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jenn Granneman, expert on introversion and author of The Secret Lives of Introverts, discusses various aspects of introversion. Topics include introverts in different job environments, strategies for introverts and extroverts to stay productive, differences in dopamine reward systems, and challenges introverts face while traveling.

#92: If you're interested in real estate investing, and if you've wondered how to assemble an all-star team, today's episode is for you. I'm hosting another edition of Ask Paula, in which I tackle three audience-submitted questions about building a team as a real estate investor. Salome from Cincinnati asks: Who are the people I'll need on my real estate team? How much will I spend in paying them? And how can I find them? Doug from Louisiana asks: I've saved $20,000 as the downpayment on a rental property. Should I use this money? Or should I look for a loan that can cover a larger chunk of the financing? Also, how should I look for a tenant? Should I handle this myself, or hire a property manager? Patricia from California asks: I live in Bay Area. I cannot buy a house here. I want to buy a rental property in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I've identified the specific property/neighborhood in which I want to invest. How can I start assembling a team from out-of-state? For a full list of resources from this episode, visit http://affordanything.com/episode92 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#91: Grow the gap between your income and your expenses: How to tackle the 4 biggest expenses in the average American household budget. Also, I share non-obvious tips on how to trim back on these costs. Enjoy! Paula For more details on this presentation, go to http://affordanything.com/episode91 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#90: Curious about real estate investing? I'm rocking the microphone solo on today's episode, tackling the rental property questions that you -- the listeners -- have asked. Rachel from the Ozarks asks: I'm inspired to start investing in real estate. I live in the Ozarks region, and the cap rates around here are fantastic. However, the online reviews for local property management companies are consistently terrible. What should I do if I can't find a good property manager? Daan from Malaysia asks: I'm a Dutch national who plans to be a global nomad for the next 10-15 years. I live in Malaysia at the moment, and I plan to continually travel internationally for my work. Many people in Asia are investing in real estate; do you have any recommendations for choosing investments abroad? A caller who wants to stay anonymous asks: I live in Denver and I'm tired of paying rent. I'd like to buy a house and eventually collect rental income from it, as well. But I'm having trouble saving enough money for a downpayment. Should I just give up? What should I do? Tom asks: I own land free-and-clear. Should I build on that land? Or should I buy a property that already exists? Finally, I tell the story of my most recent bout of lifestyle inflation. It involves sleeping in the back of my car. :-) Enjoy! - Paula For more information, visit the website at http://affordanything.com/episode90 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#89: Imagine you’re financially secure. You have enough money to support yourself, your family and pursue your dreams. You’ll need to continue working, but it’s fulfilling work with a reasonable schedule. What would you do with both your time and money? Next, imagine you’re financially independent. You DON’T need to work anymore. Your investments create enough money to support yourself and your family. What would you do? Okay, let's shake things up. Imagine you visit your doctor, who tells you that you only have 5-10 years to live. You’ll never feel sick, and you’ll have no advance notice of the moment of your death. Your financial position is the same as it is today. What would you do? Now imagine the same scenario as before -- you have 5-10 years to live -- but in this scenario, you have unlimited funds. What would you do? These are 4 of the 11 questions about money and life that I asked a crowd of 100+ people at the World Domination Summit. I share the rest of the questions on today's episode. Get Rich Slowly founder J.D. Roth also joins me on this episode to discuss building a fulfilling life. For more, visit http://affordanything.com/episode89 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#88: Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I answer 4 questions from the Afford Anything community. We chat about how to control lifestyle inflation, how to break up with a financial planner, how to invest your first $10,000, and whether or not sector-specific or theme-specific funds are a good idea. #1: Laura is transitioning to a new job, and she's discovered that her new responsibilities require some lifestyle inflation. She needs work-appropriate clothing, for example; she can't wear leggings everyday anymore. She and her husband are going to need two cars, instead of one. And she's ordering restaurant delivery more often, because she doesn't have time to cook. She recognizes that lifestyle inflation is unavoidable, and she's curious: what's legitimate and what's not? What's the difference between healthy lifestyle inflation vs. over-the-top upscaling? #2: Nakia wants to "divorce" her financial planner. But she's not sure how to break the news gently. Her financial planner is a friend and neighbor; their kids are friends. What should she say? #3: Megan and her husband both want to retire early. They have saved $10,000, which they'd like to invest in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, Admiral Shares (VTSAX). This fund requires a minimum of $10,000 as an initial investment. Should they put this money into a taxable brokerage account, so that they can access this in early retirement? Or should they save more and then each open an IRA? #4: Nancy is a single mom with a five-year-old son. She recently transitioned into a lower-stress lifestyle, but as a result, her income dropped significantly. She's a beginner investor without much money, and she's curious about Motif Investing, a platform that focuses on sector-specific and thematic investments. Would this platform be right for her? Enjoy!  - Paula Resources Mentioned: FINRA website -- Broker Check https://brokercheck.finra.org MadFientist article on how to access retirement funds early http://www.madfientist.com/how-to-access-retirement-funds-early Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#87: A week and a half ago, I flew to Portland for the World Domination Summit -- a conference with an admittedly eyebrow-raising title. The conference is hosted by Chris Guillebeau, the New York Times best-selling author of multiple books, including The Art of Non-Conformity. He was also a previous guest on this podcast. I've wanted to check out WDS for years, so I was thrilled when Chris asked me to give a presentation there. Then he mentioned that my presentation should be three hours long, which sounded terrifying. But that's all the more reason to say yes. I choose my own eyebrow-raising topic, How to Afford Anything, and ... promptly procrastinated on planning for several months. Yeah, that definitely happened. #guilty Then, at the beginning of July, I flew into a frenzy, called a few friends for advice, scanned over several books, watched multiple talks for inspiration, and isolated myself in a remote, empty house for several days. (Past guest Cal Newport would call this a "deep work retreat.") The result was a half-day workshop that synthesized many of the ideas about money that I've formed after six years of nonstop reading, writing, talking and thinking about this topic. In today's episode, I share the first part of this presentation. Today's episode focuses on myths, assumptions and limiting beliefs that we hold around money, work and life. This is the first of a three-part series. In episodes 89 and 91, I'll share the second and third parts of the talk. You can catch the slides (and watch this as a video) on http://YouTube.com/affordanything Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#86: The real estate questions keep coming in, so today I’m answering questions from three Afford Anything listeners: Heather is ready to buy her first rental property. She wants to acquire about one house per year, following a buy-and-hold strategy. Salome and her husband are renting out an unused room in our house on Airbnb. We're interested in venturing into buying rental properties later. Then Caren talks about coming across several real estate investing clubs, or memberships, in which the organization pulls together a list of various contractors and property managers. What are Paula’s thoughts and experiences with these types of things? For a full list of show notes and resources, visit http://affordanything.com/episode86 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices