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.

Episodes

The Hidden Psychology Behind Failed Dreams, with Yale’s Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

July 18, 2025 • 70 mins

#626: A software programmer and an accountant walk into retirement planning. Are they being creative? Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, a senior research scientist at Yale University's Center for Emotional Intelligence, says absolutely. Pringle defines creativity as something that's both original and effective, whether you're solving an accounting problem or planning an unconventional retirement. We explore the gap between having ideas...

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JL Collins Part 2: What Happens When You Don't Need to Work Anymore?

July 15, 2025 • 63 mins

#625: What do you do when you've reached financial independence? JL Collins says it depends entirely on your spending rate, not just your net worth. Collins joins us for part two of our conversation about what happens after you reach financial independence. He tackles the question of whether you should invest differently once you've "won the game." Someone with $5 million spending $100,000 per year sits in a completely different ...

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JL Collins Part 1: The Simple Path vs. The "Optimal" Path

July 11, 2025 • 59 mins

#624: JL Collins, author of "The Simple Path to Wealth" — the guy synonymous with VTSAX and chill — joins us for Part 1 of a two-part series where we skip the basics and dive straight into the complex stuff. We ask him whether his simple approach actually beats more sophisticated strategies, and his answer might surprise you. He says that Paul Merriman's four-fund portfolio probably outperforms his one-fund approach mathematical...

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Q&A: “Help! My Mom’s Financial Crisis Is Becoming Mine!”

July 8, 2025 • 55 mins

#623: An anonymous caller feels trapped in a no-win situation with her financially reckless mother. She has the means to bail her out, but it doesn’t feel right. What should she do? Shannon is excited about investing in several companies overseas. But she can only access them using American Depository Receipts. What are they, and how do they work? Jennifer calls back with an update on putting a vacation on a credit card and pla...

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First Friday: Why Americans Are More Pessimistic Than Ever

July 4, 2025 • 39 mins

#622: #622: The headlines said America added 147,000 jobs in June. The reality? Private companies actually cut 33,000 positions. Grad students just lost access to unlimited borrowing. Parent PLUS loans now cap at $65,000. And tariffs are about to jump as high as 70 percent. Everything is changing at once — taxes, tariffs, student loans, and immigration policy. And data from the University of Michigan says that consumers feel ...

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Q&A: Which Investments Should Go Into Which Accounts?

July 2, 2025 • 69 mins

DOWNLOAD the FREE Cheat Sheet: ASSET LOCATION MADE SIMPLE at affordanything.com/assetlocation #621: Jared is attracted to the favorable terms of the annuity plan that his employer offers, but he’s hesitant to pay the opportunity cost of locking up his money now. What should he do? An anonymous caller is struggling to find the efficient frontier with only three funds to choose from in his Thrift Savings Plan. Is there any hope for...

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The Hidden Cost of Replacing You at Work, with “Money with Katie” host Katie Gatti Tassin

July 1, 2025 • 39 mins

#620: You probably think your value to your employer equals your paycheck. Katie Gatti Tassin has news for you — you're worth way more than that. The host of "Money with Katie" recently joined us to break down a framework that could change how you negotiate forever. Her formula is simple: Your worth equals your market rate plus what it costs to replace you, raised to the power of your unique skills. Most people focus only on mark...

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Q&A: My Company Is Going Public and I Have No Idea What to Do – Plus, Should I Fire My Advisor?

June 24, 2025 • 70 mins

#619: Dave is no longer happy with his financial advisor, but he’s nervous about switching over to self-management after being completely hands-off for so long. What should he do? An anonymous caller keeps hearing about the benefits of Cost Segregation for investment property. What is it? And should he apply this strategy to his recently acquired duplex? Another anonymous caller is eagerly anticipating a windfall from his emp...

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How to Retire at 50 While Supporting Aging Parents, with Frank Vasquez

June 20, 2025 • 80 mins

DOWNLOAD the RISK PARITY PORTFOLIO CHEAT SHEET at affordanything.com/riskparity ______________ #618: Frank Vasquez watched his parents, ages 91 and 96, struggle financially in retirement. They were immigrants. His dad was a physician. They raised five kids. They retired in the early 1990’s. But by 2009, they ran out of money. When Frank was 45, in 2009, his parents would call asking for money to help make ends meet. This real...

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Q&A: We Just Had a Baby and Lost Half Our Income

June 17, 2025 • 64 mins

#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 know when he’s finally escaped the dreaded sequence of returns risk? Jonathan wants to build up his taxable broker...

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How Hackers Are Stealing Your Retirement $50 at a Time, with former CIA hacker Dr. Eric Cole

June 13, 2025 • 109 mins

#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 transfer instructions. They sent the money and showed up at closing, only to discover they'd been scammed. The email ...

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Q&A: We Saved $1.2 Million But We’re Still Renting. Should We Buy?

June 10, 2025 • 72 mins

#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 assets, or is there more to consider here? Mike is recently retired while his wife still works. With a paid-off home a...

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First Friday: The Dollar Is Weak, Bonds Are Expensive, and We Owe WWII-Level Debt

June 6, 2025 • 56 mins

#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 future inflation. Trade wars continue on. A federal court just struck down some tariffs. The administration wil...

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Rachel Rodgers: This Multimillionaire Started With $330,000 in Debt and a $41,000 Salary

June 3, 2025 • 97 mins

#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 practice in 2008 — during the recession, when jobs were scarce and most lawyers were struggling to find work. Her m...

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How to Know If You're Cut Out for Entrepreneurship Before You Risk Everything, with Grant Sabatier

May 30, 2025 • 77 mins

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 taught him something crucial: even experienced entrepreneurs face steep learning curves when they try something new...

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Q&A: Is It REALLY Different This Time?

May 27, 2025 • 69 mins

#611: With the state of the world changing so rapidly, Lesley is struggling to accept that “this time isn’t different.” Does the past still reliably inform the present in the face of major decisions today? An anonymous caller and her husband want to achieve financial independence through real estate within 10 years. Is it better to pay off existing mortgages or prioritize buying more rentals? Melanie feels duped by the FICO credi...

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Your Goals Might Be Killing You (Literally), with Sebastien Page

May 23, 2025 • 94 mins

In 2005, Sebastien Page nearly died from a mysterious bacterial infection that doctors couldn't diagnose for a week. A single observant physician noticed cuts on his toes from running in wet terrain and connected the dots. The experience forced Page to confront mortality — and completely changed how he thinks about goals. Page, the chief investment officer at T. Rowe Price and author of The Psychology of Leadership, joins ...

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Q&A: How Not To Screw Up Retirement Spending

May 20, 2025 • 78 mins

Eva is approaching financial independence, but she’s worried about messing up the transition. How does she set her portfolio up for success during the drawdown years of early retirement? Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I deep-dive into this question in today’s episode. Enjoy! P.S. Got a question? Leave it here. Episodes about the Efficient Frontier: https://affordanything.com/577-qa-the-efficient-frontier-was-pe...

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The Stoic Path to Wealth, with Billionaire Investor and Philanthropist Robert Rosenkrantz

May 16, 2025 • 85 mins

#608: At age seven, Robert Rosenkrantz made a decision that would shape his entire life: he would take full responsibility for his future.As a child, Rosenkrantz watched his parents struggle financially. His father was unemployed for two years, and his mother worked as a drugstore clerk.Their financial insecurity was painfully obvious to young Robert. He never knew if the electricity or telephone service would be shut off.But rathe...

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Q&A: Remember When Money Advice Came From Just One Book at the Library?

May 13, 2025 • 84 mins

#607: George is a worried baby boomer, wondering if today’s generation is drowning in the noise of today’s financial landscape. How does one find a balance between information and overload? Heather is stunned by the notion that renting could make more financial sense than buying. Where she’s from, the numbers seem to always swing in favor of owning. What’s she missing? Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these q...

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Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Hidden Psychology Behind Failed Dreams, with Yale’s Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}JL Collins Part 2: What Happens When You Don't Need to Work Anymore?

JL Collins Part 1: The Simple Path vs. The "Optimal" Path

Q&A: “Help! My Mom’s Financial Crisis Is Becoming Mine!”

First Friday: Why Americans Are More Pessimistic Than Ever

Q&A: Which Investments Should Go Into Which Accounts?

The Hidden Cost of Replacing You at Work, with “Money with Katie” host Katie Gatti Tassin

Q&A: My Company Is Going Public and I Have No Idea What to Do – Plus, Should I Fire My Advisor?

How to Retire at 50 While Supporting Aging Parents, with Frank Vasquez

Q&A: We Just Had a Baby and Lost Half Our Income

How Hackers Are Stealing Your Retirement $50 at a Time, with former CIA hacker Dr. Eric Cole

Q&A: We Saved $1.2 Million But We’re Still Renting. Should We Buy?

First Friday: The Dollar Is Weak, Bonds Are Expensive, and We Owe WWII-Level Debt

Rachel Rodgers: This Multimillionaire Started With $330,000 in Debt and a $41,000 Salary

How to Know If You're Cut Out for Entrepreneurship Before You Risk Everything, with Grant Sabatier

Q&A: Is It REALLY Different This Time?

Your Goals Might Be Killing You (Literally), with Sebastien Page

Q&A: How Not To Screw Up Retirement Spending

The Stoic Path to Wealth, with Billionaire Investor and Philanthropist Robert Rosenkrantz

Q&A: Remember When Money Advice Came From Just One Book at the Library?

Popular Podcasts

The Hidden Psychology Behind Failed Dreams, with Yale’s Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

JL Collins Part 2: What Happens When You Don't Need to Work Anymore?