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.
735 episodes transcribed#695: The U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February, pushing unemployment to 4.4 percent.That result contradicts a different report released two days earlier...
There are about 90 million unique job titles in the U.S. labor market. Ninety million. If you are trying to negotiate a raise, switch companies or l...
#693: AI learns your job in weeks … and you start wondering if you still have one. That question shapes our conversation with Dr. Ben Zweig, CEO of R...
#692: Anonymous (02:01) is excited about early retirement and family time but worried about his brother-in-law, who just returned from a vacation in M...
#691: Your IQ used to be your biggest career asset. Then AI scored in the 99th percentile on the LSAT, the SAT, and the MCAT — and suddenly the cogn...
#690: Blanca (01:28): Blanca, an immigrant mother raising a 14-year-old, wants her son to think critically about college—not just as an experience, bu...
#689: Most people think forgetting a name means their brain is failing. Dr. Majid Fotuhi, a neurologist who taught at Johns Hopkins and Harvard, see...
#688: Anonymous: "Anonymous Sheryl" is 38, mortgage-free and exhausted after 15 years of teaching. She’s torn between pushing a few more years toward...
#687: Your tax refund might be $300 to $1,000 bigger this year, and that's just the beginning of what's changing with your money. The Tax Foundation...
#686: Rachel: Rachel is new to investing and has noticed the stock market being dominated by AI companies. She wants to make sure her portfolio is bal...
#685: You're not an investor. You're a saver. That's the first of 10 principles Cullen Roche shares in this conversation about building what he calls...
#684: Most people search for the perfect portfolio — the one allocation that works in every market, at every age, for every goal. This interview start...
#683: Candy now — or a toy later? You slide play money across the table and let your kid choose. That moment kicks off this episode, where Dr. Stephe...
#682: Grab the FREE handbook: affordanything.com/financialgoals For 76 years, the British cycling team lost — every season, without exception. Then...
#681: Barry Ritholtz's mom sold real estate. Those dinner table conversations about mortgages helped him spot the 2008 crash before most of Wall Stree...
#680: Mia: Mia and her husband are planning early retirement and want to draw down their taxable brokerage accounts for the next decade. She’s conside...
#679: Will you still have a job in five years? Zack Kass, former OpenAI executive and 16-year AI veteran, joins us to tackle the question that keeps k...
#678: Anonymous (01:52): "Victoria" is 51, single, and still enjoying their W2 job while building a side business from a passion hobby. They’re think...
#678: Anonymous (02:36) - "Victoria" (Anonymous) is 51, single, and still enjoying their W2 job while building a side business from a passion hobby....
#677: Happy New Year! We're kicking off 2026 with a reality check on where your money stands right now. The Good News: Gas prices dropped below $3/ga...
