Financial literacy includes understanding NFT's, DeFi, and cryptocurrency. But it's hard to separate education from hype. Harvard Business School's Scott Duke Kominers, a professor in Harvard's Entrepreneurial Management Unit, and a Faculty Affiliate of the Harvard Department of Economics and the Harvard Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications, joins us alongside Web3 expert Steve Kacizinsky to explain the financial, technological and social significance of NFT's. NFT's, or Non-Fungible Tokens, are a rapidly growing digital asset. Comprehensive financial literacy requires understand ..read more

Princeton Professor Daniel Kahneman never took an economics class. But he won the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics, thanks to his advancements in understanding the psychology of money. In today’s episode, we pay homage to the late Dr. Kahneman, who passed away on March 27 at age 90. We also discuss the jobs report, inflation data, the booming stock market, the next Bitcoin halving, Capital One’s acquisition of Discover, and the National Association of Realtors settlement. Enjoy! For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode497 Learn more about your ad choices ..read more

How much of a pay cut would you take for a lighter workload?  Today we hear from Paul, 35, who’s grappling with that question.  Paul’s boss offered him the chance to cut his hours and salary by 25 percent. He’d love to work fewer hours. He has a decent net worth, plenty of savings, and no debt. Should he grab the opportunity? Or stick with his long-term financial independence and early retirement plans? An anonymous caller and her husband want to retire at 55. They also want a bigger home, a better car, and to start growing their family. Can they afford it all? Tim spent his 20’s ..read more

#495: Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She's famous for her work in radioactivity. Lin-Manual Miranda is a songwriter, producer and director who won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2016, as well as several Tony awards. What do they have in common? They lived a century apart. They innovated in disparate fields. But they shared a similar productivity practice. Both achieved greatness by embracing the practice of slow productivity, says Georgetown computer science professor Cal Newport. Slow productivity is a three-part practice, Newport ..read more

#494: Tatyana is about to pay off her house at age 39! What’s next? Her husband, who earns twice as much (and whom she met after she bought the home), has no savings. They want a boat. Should she focus there? Matthew recently ended a relationship that resulted in a real estate buyout with an 8.1 percent interest rate. With rates expected to decline, how long should he wait to refinance the loan? Rachel’s friends know her as the finance gal, but she’s stumped about closed-end funds. What should she know about these investments? Erin and Angelique call in with a loan strategy to tackle Steve’s d ..read more

#441: It’s GRADUATION WEEK! For those of you who’ve been following along this past year, you know that I’ve been completing the Knight - Bagehot Fellowship at Columbia University. This week, my family and I are celebrating the countless hours of studying, all-nighters and eye opening experiences, so here at Afford Anything, we’re airing an important episode from our archives. This episode addresses important questions we’ve been getting from the Afford Anything community, including: Where do I invest? How do I diversify outside of the stock market? How many individual stocks should I hold ..read more

#439: There are massive rapid changes unfurling in the financial world. This week’s biggest news: First Republic Bank collapsed; JP Morgan Chase acquired it. (As it happens, I was one of 12 people who was lucky enough to have dinner with Chase CEO Jamie Dimon exactly one week ago – just days before the acquisition. I tell that story around the 8-minute mark of today’s episode.) The Fed issued a 10th consecutive rate hike, raising interest rates another quarter of a percentage point. Inflation is still double the target rate. And public confidence in bedrock financial institutions, as measured ..read more

#493: Do you ever wonder what happens behind closed doors on Wall Street? Vivian Tu, also known as Your Rich BFF, is here to spill the tea. Vivian grew up in a modest immigrant family. After college, she found herself working insane hours on Wall Street after college. While working on Wall Street, Vivian saw some weird things. Once, a coworker stumbled hungover into the office after a trip to Atlantic City, carrying a duffel bag with thousands of dollars in cash inside. Vivian realized that there's a group of high-income and high-net-worth people who handle money in drastically different ways ..read more

#492: Christine’s business is struggling. She needs more income. If she adds a full-time remote job to her plate, how will her retirement and finances change? Rob enjoyed a banner year in 2023. He made over $1 million. But the sting of income tax has him making moves that violate his investment strategy. Is his tax tail wagging the dog? Gena is excited to make the most of business deductions. Can she contribute 100 percent of her wages to a 401k and have the company match that? Christina is tired of living like a pauper in the name of student loan repayment. Is Public Service Loan Forgiveness ..read more

#491: Welcome, Emma Chamberlain’s fans!! Thanks for joining the Afford Anything community. You can find out how to escape the 9-to-5 grind at affordanything.com/escape Once a month, on the First Friday of the month, we explore the hot economic and money stories that are dominating the headlines. These days, Bitcoin is back in the news. As of Friday morning, March 1st, its price ranged around $62,000, which is pretty darn close to its previous all-time high of $68,700. But why? Crypto was hot in 2020, but it faded from memory in recent years. What’s behind the comeback? And what does that tell ..read more