Paula Pant
Paula Pant hosts Afford Anything, exploring how money, investing and everyday decisions can help people build financial freedom.
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Latest
Paula’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus her backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
- Get Smart With Money2022 · Featured financial coach and consulting producer
Netflix - Afford Anything | Talks at Google2019 · Speaker; podcast edition published in 2019
Talks at Google - Afford AnythingThe Story of M.O.N.E.Y.: Having Heart and Hustle2016 · Co-host; the first episode of what became Afford Anything
Overview
- Work
- Podcaster, journalist and financial educator
- Started
- Built Afford Anything after leaving newspaper reporting and traveling abroad
- Podcast beginnings
- Launched with Jay Money in 2016 as The M.O.N.E.Y. Podcast
- Journalism training
- 2022–23 Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University
- On screen
- Featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary Get Smart With Money
Mini bio
How it started.
Paula began as a newspaper reporter in Colorado. She saved aggressively and freelanced on nights and weekends, then quit in April 2008 with $25,000 and a one-way ticket to Egypt. Two years of backpacking helped her see money as a way to choose how to spend her life.
Finding her voice.
Afford Anything grew from that search for lasting freedom. Her 2011 blog became a place to explore money and choices. In 2016 she launched The M.O.N.E.Y. Podcast with Jay Money; after his departure, it became the Afford Anything podcast at episode 31.
A wider audience.
The show grew through expert interviews and listener questions. Its reach brought Plutus recognition and, in 2022, a place in the Cumulus Podcast Network. Paula also appeared in Netflix’s Get Smart With Money as a financial coach and consulting producer.
Still asking questions.
She was a 2022–23 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in economics and business journalism at Columbia. Today, her podcast and newsletter explore financial psychology, earning more, investing, real estate and entrepreneurship. Her official site reports more than 45 million podcast downloads.
Creditschronological, newest first
Podcasts and education
- OngoingYour First Rental PropertyCreator and instructor
- 2019Afford Anything | Talks at GoogleGuest speaker; podcast edition
- 2016–presentAfford Anything podcastCreator and host; launched with Jay Money as The M.O.N.E.Y. Podcast
Documentary
- 2022Get Smart With MoneyFeatured financial coach and consulting producer
Awards
- 15th Annual Plutus Awards2026 · Included in the Foundation’s Hall of Fame selection for money content and community.
- Plutus Lifetime Achievement Award2018 · Honored for her work in personal finance media.
- Plutus Podcast of the Year2018 · Afford Anything won Podcast of the Year at the 9th Annual Plutus Awards.
Quotes
You can afford anything. You just can’t afford everything.Paula Pant, Afford Anything About page
Her central idea: money decisions involve trade-offs, so choosing what matters comes first.
Trivia
- The Afford Anything podcast began under a different name: The M.O.N.E.Y. Podcast.
- Jay Money co-hosted the first 26 episodes; the Afford Anything name arrived at episode 31.
- On her backpacking trip, she drove 27,000 kilometers across the Australian outback.
- She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Find Paula
Follow Paula for thoughtful conversations about money and the life you want it to support.
Are you Paula Pant?
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