Afford Anything | Get Smarter With Money

#734: Depending on which source you ask, the U.S. is short somewhere between 1.2 million and 10 million homes — and the reason for that wild range says as much about who's counting as it does about the shortage itself.

👉 Free cheat sheet: which investments belong in which account: https://affordanything.com/assetlocation

This week, Paula and Joe tackle three listener questions: whether the housing shortage is real or a wealth-concentration problem, whether a 26-year-old should pay off his mortgage or keep investing toward financial independence, and how to simplify a portfolio spread across 13 funds.

We discuss:

Whether the housing shortage is real — or just wealthy people buying vacation homes

Why entry-level starter homes are in shorter supply than luxury homes - A simple way to add housing supply in your area while increasing your own rental income

How to simplify a $1.5 million portfolio spread across 13 funds without losing tax efficiency

Which investments belong in a Roth account vs. a 401(k) vs. a taxable account

Why taking a 30-year mortgage (and paying it off fast) can beat a 15-year mortgage

How to decide whether to pay off a mortgage early or invest the difference instead

Whether you're trying to make sense of housing headlines, tidy up a portfolio that's grown out of control, or figure out what to do with extra cash each month, this episode will help you think more clearly about the trade-offs.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

Note: Timestamps may vary slightly depending on dynamic ad placements.

(01:41) Is America's housing shortage actually real?

(06:29) The real numbers behind the housing shortage

(14:29) A stunning stat on building permits vs. new jobs

(24:32) A simple way to add housing and earn more

(28:23) A caller's plan to retire in 15 years

(33:01) Which accounts should hold which investments

(40:22) Why more funds can beat fewer funds

(52:19) A costly bias that skews money decisions

(58:46) Should a 26-year-old rush to pay off his mortgage?

(1:09:04) A gut-check for choosing between two paths

🔗 RESOURCES

👉 Free cheat sheet: which investments belong in which account: https://affordanything.com/assetlocation

👉 7 Expensive Rental Property Mistakes to Avoid (free guide): https://affordanything.com/rent

👉 Practical Investing and the Efficient Frontier, with Joe Saul-Sehy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz59b5H5puw

👉 Submit your own question for a future episode: https://affordanything.com/voicemail
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#733: Venture fund managers can collect years of fees before a single dollar comes back to investors — and the bar to hand over your money is lower than you'd think.

David Bell spent 20 years as a chaired professor at Wharton before co-founding the venture firm Idea Farm Ventures, where he's backed early-stage brands like Bonobos, Warby Parker, and Jet.com.

In this episode, we discuss:

How venture funds actually make money, and why nearly every one runs on the same fee formula

Why fund managers get paid before they've invested anything

Why the bar to invest in risky private deals is lower than you'd think

What to ask before trusting any fund manager with your money

The one red flag that should make you think twice about an eager fund manager

How some investors make an all-or-nothing bet on a single breakout company

Why taking outside money can quietly change what a founder is optimizing for

Whether you're weighing becoming a fund investor yourself or you're a founder deciding whether outside money is worth what it costs, this episode gives you a clearer read on how the venture world actually works.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

Note: Timestamps may vary slightly depending on dynamic ad placements.

(03:41) How venture capital actually works, in three tiers

(06:09) The fee formula nearly every venture fund runs on

(10:30) Why fund managers get paid before they invest anything

(14:19) The surprisingly low bar to invest in risky deals

(26:52) What to ask before trusting any fund manager

(29:27) How investors make an all-or-nothing bet on one company

(34:33) The red flag hiding in an eager fund manager

(42:16) What separates a great fund manager from a mediocre one

(48:10) How outside money quietly changes what a founder optimizes for

(55:47) Why kids today may never remember life before AI

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

👉 The free FiiRE Playbook breaks down all seven entrepreneur types — from bootstrapper to funder — so you can see which game you're actually playing: https://affordanything.com/fiire

👉 David Bell's website: https://www.davidbell.co

👉 Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547217/lost-and-founder-by-rand-fishkin

👉 Burn Rate by Andy Dunn: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/653309/burn-rate-by-andy-dunn
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#732: Where you live is already deciding what you'll buy today, before you've even made up your mind. And it turns out the customers your local stores ignore completely are often a brand's most valuable ones.

David Bell spent twenty years as a Wharton marketing professor before becoming one of the earliest investors in Warby Parker, Bonobos, and Diapers.com. He's now co-founder of the consumer venture studio Idea Farm Ventures.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why the same person makes different purchases depending on where they live

How four college students' "nutty idea" became Warby Parker

Why the customers your local store ignores can become your best customers

Why a failed meal-kit startup accidentally proved a rule about demand

How a founder turned a boring hand sanitizer into a ten-dollar status symbol

Why AI can now replicate a $100,000 market research study for almost nothing

This episode is for anyone building — or dreaming of building — their own brand, product, or side hustle, and who wants to understand why people really open their wallets.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

Note: Timestamps may vary slightly depending on dynamic ad placements.

(00:00) Introduction: the invisible forces behind your spending

(02:08) From Wharton professor to venture capitalist: meet David Bell

(07:32) The Warby Parker origin story: born in office hours

(11:27) The "preference minority": why location shapes what you buy

(23:12) Beyond necessities: targeting discretionary spending online

(31:00) Getting creative offline: postal routes, school buses, and neighborhood showrooms

(43:37) Where AI actually fits into consumer innovation

(50:49) Touchland: how a "boring" category became a status symbol

(55:13) Building a business — and an AI board of directors — from scratch

(57:32) Recap: three key takeaways, and what's coming Friday

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

👉 Not sure which kind of entrepreneur you are? Our free 10-day guide helps you find your path — and add the emotional layer that makes people pay more: https://affordanything.com/fiire

👉 David Bell's work at Idea Farm Ventures: https://www.davidbell.co

👉 David Bell's book, Location Is (Still) Everything: https://amzn.to/4aUO3Gh

👉 Touchland, the hand sanitizer brand: https://touchland.com👉 Brad Stone book The Everything Store - Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon https://amzn.to/4w6ZT8I

Share this episode with a friend, colleagues, and your mailman: https://affordanything.com/episode732
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#731: What if the best way to test a new hire wasn't a resume, but a two-hour breakfast? One CEO built his entire hiring process around it — and it worked.

Lorraine Marchand spent three decades in leadership roles at companies like IBM, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and LabCorp, and interviewed more than 120 CEOs for her book on what actually makes teams innovate. Now she teaches at Wharton and Columbia Business School, and in this episode she joins Paula to share what really works.

In this episode, we discuss:

How one CEO used a casual team breakfast to test whether a new hire was the right fit before they came on board

A simple three-question test to figure out if a bad job culture is fixable, or if it's time to start looking elsewhere

Why a weekly 30-minute habit of talking about what's not working can make a team stronger

How to network your way into opportunities early in your career, even if you're worried AI will replace you first

What new research on memory loss and heavy AI use means for how you should be using these tools

How to protect your job in your 50s and 60s as companies push AI adoption on everyone

Where Marchand thinks the next wave of entrepreneurial opportunity is actually hiding (hint: it's not another app)

Whether you're building a team from scratch, trying to decide if a toxic job is worth fixing, or just trying to use AI without losing your edge, this episode gives you practical takeaways you can put to use right away.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

Note: Timestamps may vary slightly depending on dynamic ad placements.

(02:00) – The team breakfast test: how one CEO used a shared meal to hire the right people

(17:38) Should you try to fix a bad culture, or start looking for a new job?

(26:29) Why people follow good bosses, not companies

(28:26) Networking advice for people early in their career

(30:25) What heavy AI use might be doing to your memory and thinking

(31:06) AI job displacement and the skills worth building now

(50:56) Using AI as a thought partner to build emotional intelligence

(58:23) Advice for workers in their 50s and 60s worried about AI and ageism

(1:06:00) Building a team of humans and AI "agents" — including an AI board of directors

(1:14:43) Where Marchand sees the next wave of entrepreneurship and innovation heading

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

THE SIMPLE THREE-STEP PROCESS THAT CHANGES HOW YOU THINK ABOUT EVERYTHING 👉https://affordanything.com/turnitaround

Landit – The AI-powered interview and communication prep tool mentioned in the episode 👉 https://www.landitinterview.ai/

Lorraine Marchand's website 👉 https://www.lorrainemarchand.com/

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#730: What does it actually mean to have "enough" — and how do you know when it's time to stop optimizing and start living?

AVOIDING THE REAL ESTATE MISTAKES IN THIS FREE GUIDE COULD SAVE YOU $10,000 OR MORE 👉https://affordanything.com/mistakes

In today's episode:

Jax, a longtime listener, has hit a mindset shift — prioritizing sabbaticals and shared experiences over pure accumulation. He wants to know if his financial strategy still matches his values, how to deploy his home sale proceeds, when to assemble a financial team, and whether he and his wife have truly reached Coast FI.

Megan and her wife are realtors in Baltimore who also flip houses. They're weighing whether to keep flipping, build a rental portfolio, or lean harder into retirement accounts and index funds — and want a framework for balancing it all as they plan for more travel and time with family.

And Reema lives with her husband in the home she grew up in — which her mother still owns. As they plan renovations and think ahead to her mother's eventual estate, she's looking for guidance on how to split the inheritance fairly with her siblings.

Share this episode with a friend, colleagues, and your dog sitter4: https://affordanything.com/episode730
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