Afford Anything | Get Smarter With Money

Steve Jobs Hated the Name “Genius Bar.” How He Came Around, with Ron Johnson

#757: Ron Johnson is the creator of the Apple Stores and former CEO of JCPenney. At age 24 Ron Johnson turned down a $120,000 Goldman Sachs offer to unload trucks for $40

How Losing $500K in ‘08 Led One Trader to a Different Kind of Portfolio, with Jared Dillian

#756: In September 2008, Jared Dillian watched about half a million dollars of Lehman Brothers stock go to zero in a single week. He wasn't allowed to sell any of it. Wha

First Friday: AI, Debt, and a Social Security Shortfall. Should Your Money Plans Change? With Rob Berger

#755: Many retirees fear running out of money more than they fear dying. AI is reshaping the economy, the U.S. now spends over $1 trillion on interest, and Social Securit

Q&A: We Have $80K in Cash and Want a 1–2 Year Sabbatical. Is It Enough?

#754: Four months of savings in the bank, a goal of eight, and a career break she's excited to fund. Does everything else really have to wait? Paula and Joe's answer: don

Why 60,000 New York Apartments Sit Empty in a Housing Crisis, with Kenny Burgos

#753: New York City is short roughly half a million homes, yet at least 60,000 rent-regulated apartments sit empty. Under current rules, many owners lose less money by le

Q&A: I’m Tired of Managing My Rental Property. Should I Sell It?

#752: A caller's rental is performing fine, but a late-paying tenant and a roof replacement have her ready to sell it before she moves to Madrid for her MBA. Paula argues

Why Self-Worth Predicts Your Income More Than Your SAT Score Does, with Marisa Franco

#751: The belief that’s quietly sabotaging your progress might not even be true. Free worksheet to question it: https://affordanything.com/turn-it-around Two people can

Your "Diversified" Portfolio Might Secretly Be One Big Bet on AI, with Alec Litowitz

#750: Free worksheet: question the belief that might be keeping you stuck — before reality forces the update for you: http://affordanything.com/turn-it-around Alec Litow

How a Blind Man and His Dog Survived 9/11 from the 78th Floor

#749: Michael Hingson was on the 78th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit on Sept. 11. He felt the impact, but couldn’t see it. M

Q&A: My Dream Job Won't Wait If I Take a Family Gap Year — Do I Quit Anyway?

#748: The real question behind quitting a job you love or paying off debt anyway? Your money mindset. Take our free quiz to find yours: https://affordanything.com/fiire

First Friday: Trouble in the Bond Market

#747: We have good news on multiple fronts to share about the job market, the stock market, the commodities market, and volatile news around the bond market. And we begi

Q&A: What Nepal Reveals About Wealth and Safety

#746: We begin today’s episode with a discussion of the disastrous flash flooding in Nepal, a personal topic for Paula given her family there. There’s both a human story,

The Four Kinds of Rich Nobody Counts -- with Sahil Bloom [GREATEST HITS]

#745: A friend once asked Sahil Bloom how often he saw his parents. About once a year, Sahil said. How old are they? Mid-60s. His friend did the math out loud. If they

This Historian Says We're Living in the Best Era Ever, with Joseph Moore

#744: With about $200 and a crypto exchange, historian Joseph Moore turned himself into a legitimate billionaire — a stunt that says more about how money actually works t

Everyone Wants a Piece of You. Here's How to Stay Whole -- with Luke Burgis

#743: Everyone talks about a loneliness epidemic — but Luke Burgis argues the opposite problem is just as real: we now have so much easy, frictionless community that we n

Q&A: I Reached Financial Independence Three Years Early … Now What?

#742: A listener hit her $1.4 million early-retirement goal three years ahead of schedule — and now she's stuck deciding whether paying off a low-interest mortgage is sma

You Can't Buy Back Your 20’s — with Jack Raines

#740: Jack Raines turned $6,000 into $400,000 trading blank-check stocks during the 2020–2021 bubble — and he says it was some of the least fun money he's ever made. Jac

Q&A: Should We Retire in Our 40s With $4 Million and an 80% Stock Portfolio?

#740: Paula and Joe rarely butt heads — but a caller's side hustle, which pulled in $5,500 in a single day, sparked their most heated disagreement in months. This week's

First Friday: We Lost 23,000 Jobs, Yet Somehow Unemployment is Down?!?!

#739: The U.S. just lost 23,000 jobs — and unemployment fell anyway. The numbers were strange enough that Paula broke a years-long, all-stocks habit and bought her first

Hackers Waited 3 Months for This Couple's $1.2 Million Deal, with Dr. Eric Cole [GREATEST HITS]

#738: Hackers broke into a real estate closing company's servers and waited three months for the right deal — then intercepted a wire and stole $1.2 million from a couple