Afford Anything | Get Smarter With Money

#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 bond, ever.

In this month's First Friday economic roundup, Paula breaks down the jobs report, the bond market, mortgage rates, gold, and a new kind of account for kids.

Topics include:

How to make sense of a jobs report that seems to contradict itself

What actually happens when you buy a 30-year Treasury bond

Why bond yields hitting a two-decade high matters for your money

Why mortgage rates are climbing again, and what that means for housing

Why home prices are surging in some states while crashing in others

Why gold is quietly staging a comeback

What the new government-seeded kids' accounts actually do

Whether you're deciding where your next dollar should go, watching mortgage rates before a purchase, or wondering if your kid needs a new account this year, this episode gives you the full economic picture in one sitting.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

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

(00:00) Why the jobs report shocked economists this month

(03:24) How jobs can drop while unemployment drops too

(08:03) Why Paula just bought her first bond ever

(09:35) A crash course on why bond yields are spiking

(25:34) Why unemployment claims just hit a 55-year low

(27:57) Why young job seekers have it harder than everyone else

(35:23) Why mortgage rates just hit a one-year high

(51:28) Why gold is rebounding, and who's buying it

(57:47) What the new 530A investment accounts mean for your kids

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

👉 Wondering which account should actually hold that bond (or gold, or index fund) you just bought? Grab our free cheat sheet showing exactly where each investment belongs: https://affordanything.com/assetlocation

👉 Chat about this episode with the community: affordanything.com/community

👉 TreasuryDirect, where Paula opened her account to buy the bond: treasurydirect.gov

👉 CME FedWatch Tool, for tracking the market's odds of a September rate hike: https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html

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#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 who did everything right, right down to the closing table.

Dr. Eric Cole was a former CIA hacker, Cybersecurity Commissioner under President Obama, and longtime security advisor to Bill Gates. We're resharing this conversation, originally released in June 2025, in honor of his sudden passing this year and the practical security knowledge he left behind.

In this episode, we discuss:

-How to spot a phishing scam before you click the link

-Why turning on two-factor authentication blocks almost every account takeover

-The simple bank alert setting that can stop a fraudulent transfer

-Why cybersecurity experts sometimes recommend paying a ransomware demand

-How AI-cloned voices are powering a new wave of grandparent scams

-What your phone's app permissions reveal about who's tracking you

-Why "it won't happen to me" is exactly what scammers count on

This episode is for anyone who assumes hackers only go after big companies — because the reality is scammers are counting on you to think that. You'll walk away with concrete, five-minute changes that close the gaps most people don't know they have.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

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

(03:41) Why you're an easier target than a big bank

(06:46) Why cryptocurrency theft is nearly impossible to reverse

(10:59) How one password can move half your savings

(17:35) The fake unpaid-toll text that's made scammers millions

(21:55) Why paying the ransom is sometimes the smart move

(29:05) How AI clones your kid's voice for scams

(37:58) The one thing to never hand a child

(54:57) Why you should mask your location online

(01:16:18) The setting that blocks almost every account hack

(01:18:45) The bank alert that can undo fraud fast

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

👉 See your full financial picture — income, debt, safeguards, and goals — in one place with our free one-page worksheet: https://affordanything.com/cornerstone

👉 Dr. Eric Cole's firm, Secure Anchor Consulting: secure-anchor.com

👉 Signal, the encrypted messaging app Dr. Cole recommends for sensitive conversations: https://signal.org

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#737: Beth Kobliner has covered personal finance for people in their 20s and 30s for over three decades — and she says this is the hardest she's ever seen it. One in four young people now believe that betting on gambling sites and prediction markets counts as investing.

Beth Kobliner is a personal finance journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Get a Financial Life, who served on President Obama's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why unemployment for college grads is now worse than the general population

Why the average first-time homebuyer is now 40 instead of 28

How tap-to-pay and neobank apps quietly drive up spending without you noticing

Why so many young people believe gambling sites count as investing — and what the real odds say

Whether AI is making it harder or easier for young workers to break in

Why index funds still beat both active management and a lucky bet, long-term

Whether college is still worth the cost in today's job market

Whether you're just starting out or already feel behind, this episode makes the case for the boring, unglamorous plan over the tempting quick one — and explains why that plan still works.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

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

(00:00) Why today's 20- and 30-somethings have it harder than any generation Beth's covered

(03:04) The consumer sentiment reading that's worse than the pandemic and the Great Recession

(05:14) Why record-low unemployment doesn't mean what you think for new grads

(10:23) Why the median first-time homebuyer is now pushing 40

(13:36) The real reason behind the boom in crypto, sports betting, and meme stocks

(15:52) The "giving up" factor economists say is driving risky bets

(17:15) Why a tiny sliver of prediction-market bettors take home most of the winnings

(23:26) Is the "avocado toast" spending story about young people even true?

(43:44) How tapping your phone quietly makes you spend more than a credit card

(01:04:13) Why financial optimism is rising in countries poorer than the U.S.

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

👉 A free 10-day workbook to work through your money mindset and your next move: https://affordanything.com/fiire

👉 Get Beth Kobliner’s book Get a Financial Life: https://amzn.to/3Ty9tTJ

👉 A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel, the index-fund classic Beth and Paula both referenced: https://amzn.to/4bq9IGC
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#736: A bride wants to spend $60,000 on her wedding — money that could grow to $800,000 in 40 years if she invested it instead. This week, three very different listener questions all boil down to the same fight: what the math says versus what actually makes you happy.

👉 Figure out your own money mindset — free FiiRE Playbook: https://affordanything.com/fiire

This week, Paula and Joe tackle three listener questions: a professor trying to retire in 12 years while his daughter starts college, a bride wondering if $60,000 is too much to spend on love, and a couple in Luxembourg deciding whether a 1.2% fee is worth paying to keep themselves from touching their own money.

In this episode, we discuss:

How to know if you can retire in 12 years while your kid starts college

A little-known tax-advantaged account almost nobody realizes their child can use

Why a 7% return assumption isn't a "set it and forget it" number

Whether a $60,000 wedding is a smart use of money — or a mistake

How to decide if a big purchase is worth it before you spend the money

Why paying a fee to a financial company might actually be doing you a favor

How to tell a resilient money habit from a fragile one

This episode is for anyone caught between what the math says and what they actually want — whether that's a wedding, a retirement date, or a fee you're tempted to cut. If you've ever done the "mathematically wrong" thing on purpose, you'll feel understood by the end of this one.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

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

(03:36) Can this couple retire together in 12 years?

(07:15) Why his college savings look thinner than expected

(26:15) The two retirement levers you can actually pull

(26:46) A little-known tax-free account for kids

(34:18) Is a $60,000 wedding a smart money move?

(41:21) The math behind what that wedding money could grow into

(45:44) What every big purchase question really comes down to

(57:51) Pay the fee, or invest it yourself?

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

👉 Figure out your own money mindset — free FiiRE Playbook: https://affordanything.com/fiire

👉 Steve Stewart and Sean Mullaney's free webinar on ACA subsidies and the Subsidy Cliff August 4th - no RSVP needed: https://SteveStewart.me/webinar

👉 Hear Paula, OG, and Jesse Cramer react to the Diary of a CEO episode on AI's future, on the Stacking Benjamins podcast: https://youtu.be/wppwRxGtFD4
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#735: Cody Berman failed at more than 30 side hustles — from a disc golf manufacturing company to sweaty bike deliveries in the Australian heat — before three of them got him to financial independence at 25.

Cody is the bestselling author of Retire by 30, who reached financial independence at 25 by stacking income from real estate, digital products, and the stock market.

In this episode, we discuss:

How a nest-egg approach to financial independence differs from a cash-flow one

A simple framework for sorting any side hustle into one of four types

Why calculating real rental cash flow means more than rent minus mortgage

Why the gap between what you earn and spend matters more than your returns

How a failed side hustle can still hand you a skill that pays off later

Why rebuilding an old idea from scratch can prove your skills weren't luck

How to know when a side hustle needs more time versus when to quit

Whether you're juggling five side hustles or just starting your first one, this episode will help you figure out which ones are actually worth your time — and which ones to let go of.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

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

(00:00) Meet Cody Berman

(03:27) Two paths to FI

(05:51) Big piles feel scary

(07:09) Cody's FI numbers

(08:12) Hustling on the train

(11:58) The side hustle graveyard

(14:56) Four side hustle types

(19:47) The rich own assets

(37:17) Biking Uber Eats in Australia

(44:20) Skills are future currency

(45:33) AI makes doers stronger

(52:36) The gap is everything

(58:54) Valentine's printables pay off

(1:07:54) House hacking slashes costs

(1:12:45) Life after FI

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

👉 Grab the free 10-day guide to figuring out which side hustle is worth building next: https://affordanything.com/fiire

👉 Retire by 30 by Cody Berman: https://amzn.to/4gwGSYm

👉 The Financial Independence Show (Cody's podcast): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-financial-independence-show/id1434155196

👉 The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss: https://amzn.to/4vXfsj6

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