Afford Anything
You can afford anything, but not everything. We make daily decisions about how to spend money, time, energy, focus and attention – and ultimately, our life. How do we make smarter decisions? How do we think from first principles? On the surface, Afford Anything seems like a podcast about money and investing. But under the hood, this is a show about how to think critically, recognize our behavioral blind spots, and make smarter choices. We’re into the psychology of money, and we love metacognition: thinking about how to think. In some episodes, we interview world-class experts: professors, researchers, scientists, authors. In other episodes, we answer your questions, talking through decision-making frameworks and mental models. Want to learn more? Download our free book, Escape, at http://affordanything.com/escape. Hosted by Paula Pant.
Show episodes
#617: Austin and his wife are worried about moving to a single-income household while supporting two kids. Should they free up cash flow by paying off a car loan, or tighten up and stay the course? Paul has been retired for seven years, but still can’t shake his anxiety about not having enough. Is there a good way to k
How Hackers Are Stealing Your Retirement $50 at a Time, with former CIA hacker Dr. Eric Cole
#616: Two school teachers in Ohio saved their entire lives for one dream — buying a farm. When they inherited $1.3 million and found the perfect property for $1.2 million, everything seemed perfect. Five days before closing, they received what looked like a legitimate email from their closing company with wire transf
#615: Emily is nervous that buying their first home will derail her family’s journey to financial independence. What’s the smartest way to deploy their savings and stay on track? Based on cap rate calculations, Paul’s real estate investments have appreciated beyond their sensible holding point. Should he sell his asset
#614: The US just added 139,000 new jobs in May. That beat expectations. But the real story isn't in the job numbers — it’s in the bond market. Something unusual is happening in bonds. Treasury yields are spiking. The dollar is weakening. That combination almost never happens together. And it's signaling concerns about
Rachel Rodgers: This Multimillionaire Started With $330,000 in Debt and a $41,000 Salary
#613: Rachel Rodgers graduated from law school with $330,000 in student loans. Her starting salary? Just $41,000. Most people would have accepted this crushing debt-to-income ratio. They'd slowly chip away at payments for decades. Rodgers had a different plan. She deferred her loans and started her own virtual law prac
How to Know If You're Cut Out for Entrepreneurship Before You Risk Everything, with Grant Sabatier
Grant Sabatier never worked in retail, never worked in a bookstore, and had no idea what he was doing when he opened Clintonville Books in Columbus, Ohio. But that's exactly the point. The experiment required 1,200 hours of solo work — measuring spaces, moving 40,000 books, and navigating city regulations. But it taugh
