Afford Anything

Paula Pant's central thesis is right there in the name: you can afford anything, but not everything. That idea -- that every financial decision is a tradeoff -- runs through every episode of this show and gives it a philosophical backbone that most money podcasts lack. Paula started as a personal finance blogger, bought her first rental property at 27, and eventually built a portfolio of investment properties while also investing in index funds. She brings that dual perspective to the show, bouncing between real estate investing, stock market strategy, and the psychology of money decisions. Episodes come in two flavors. The solo shows are deep dives where Paula breaks down concepts like sequence-of-returns risk, the 4% rule, or how to think about asset allocation in your 30s versus your 50s. The interview episodes bring in guests like Morgan Housel, JL Collins, Ramit Sethi, and other names you'd recognize from the financial independence community. What keeps this show from feeling like a lecture is Paula's genuine curiosity. She asks follow-up questions that a real person would ask, not softballs designed to let guests promote a book. She also runs a regular "Ask Paula" segment where listeners send in their actual financial dilemmas -- should I pay off student loans or invest, do I sell a rental property to fund early retirement, that kind of thing. Episodes run 45 to 70 minutes and release weekly. The production quality is clean, the advice is grounded in evidence, and Paula never talks down to her audience.