3075: One Terrible Piece of Financial Advice You Should Never Ever Listen To by Paula Pant of Afford Anything

Optimal Finance Daily - Financial Independence and Money Advice

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Investing, Business, Education, Self-improvement

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3075: Conventional financial wisdom doesn’t always apply universally. The article challenges common money advice by exploring real-life examples where “bad” financial decisions - like keeping a mortgage instead of paying it off early - led to positive outcomes. By highlighting the importance of context, adaptability, and personal financial goals, it encourages readers to think critically rather than blindly following mainstream advice. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://affordanything.com/2013/05/21/bad-financial-advice-but-it-worked-for-me Quotes to ponder: "This is why I distrust financial guidelines that assume one-size-fits-all." "Just because it worked for one person doesn’t mean it will work for everyone." "People have different risk tolerances, personalities, and opportunities." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by The Economist. The world is complex, but understanding it doesn't have to be.
0:06.4	The Economist connects the dots across politics, business, science and culture, keeping you informed and prepared for what's to come.
0:13.1	When decisions in Beijing shift markets in New York, or a populist wave ripples to your doorstep,
0:18.1	the Economist explains the what and the why before your morning
0:21.5	coffee's brewed. They make complicated issues clear so you can navigate with confidence.
0:26.7	Search the economist and make sense of the world around you.
0:30.6	This is Optimal Finance Daily. One terrible piece of financial advice you should never, ever listen to by Paula Pant of Afford Anything.com.
0:42.2	Launch into any money-related conversation, and you'll inevitably hear the following bad financial advice.
0:50.1	But it worked for me. Those insiduous five little words have been used to justify all types of terrible ideas,
0:58.4	from buying lottery tickets to over-leveraging your investments,
1:02.5	to investing every last dime into Apple stock.
1:06.3	Let's try this one on for size.
1:08.8	Common sense.
1:10.3	Even if you find an awesome investment, spread your risk by
1:13.9	picking a few other investments as well. Rental properties are awesome, but even if you could make
1:19.5	20% cap rates, you should still keep a solid chunk of money in stock market index funds.
1:26.4	Retort, but I put 150% of my savings in gold in the
1:30.9	year 2007 and it totally worked for me. Put every dime in gold. Nothing else. Why bother diversifying
1:38.3	when you can get the best returns in this arena? Common sense. Hold on. You invested 150% of your savings? Retort. Yeah, I can take a cash
1:49.2	advance from my credit card at 14.9% and invest it for 170% gold returns. It'd be stupid not to.
1:59.1	Common sense. Uh, don't you think that's a bit risky?
2:03.1	Retort.
	...

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