Paula Pant, founder of Afford Anything and star of Netflix’s “Get Smart With Money,” is a well-respected influencer in the personal finance space. Her advice is very approachable for anyone interested in improving their financial situation.
Jaime Catmull interviewed Pant on an episode of “The Richer Way” podcast. And, not surprisingly, Pant provided some thoughtful keys to saving money and building wealth.
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Explore some of the keys to building wealth that Pant laid out.
Also see the first thing you should do with your paycheck to build wealth.
Consciously Consider What Your Goals Are
In the episode, Pant described her early years in the workforce. She started working as a journalist with a salary of $21,000 per year. Although she enjoyed the job, she wanted to travel the world. With that goal in mind, she had saved $25,000 after three years on the job.
“And with that amount of money, I flew to Egypt on a one way ticket, and lived out of a backpack, and I ended up traveling full time for the next 27 months,” Pant said.
Some of her friends would comment that they would love to travel too but couldn’t afford it. In reality, they were spending money on other things, like a nicer apartment or a more up-to-date vehicle.
Pant’s tagline, Afford Anything, sprung from this experience because she realized most could afford to do anything. But instead, they chose to spend their funds on other things. In order to avoid getting trapped in a financial situation you don’t enjoy, it’s important to think about what matters to you.
Pant advised listeners to consciously consider what their goals are. For her, it was traveling the world. But you’ll have to decide for yourself what your goals are.
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Deliberately Pursue Your Financial Goals
Once you have your financial priorities nailed down, the next step is to make deliberate progress toward your goals.
For Pant, this looked like living on a shoestring budget. In the podcast episode, she detailed driving a $400 23-year-old Toyota Corolla and picking free activities to do with friends.
Of course, these deliberate choices weren’t always comfortable. But this allowed her to save her funds toward the goal of traveling around.
Pick Up a Side Hustle
In order for Pant to save $25,000 in three years on a $21,000 annual salary, she had to pick up a side hustle. For her, freelancing on evenings and weekends allowed her to boost her savings account at an average rate of $800 per month.
If you need more income to supercharge your financial goals, the right side hustle can make all the difference. Pant broke down different types of side hustles.
Gig Economy Work
The first type, according to Pant, is gig economy work. This includes things like delivering for DoorDash and driving for Uber.
“For those types of short-term ‘I need cash in the door quickly’ types of situations, I think those can be great. But the issue is at an hourly rate, you don’t really get paid that much. So it’s a stepping stone, it’s a Band-Aid, it’s a temporary measure, but it’s not where I want you to stay long term,” Pant explained.
Gig work can help you start earning the money you need quickly. If possible, tuck the money away for your financial goals.
Skilled Side Jobs
Skilled side jobs take things a step further than baseline gig economy work.
In the podcast, Pant used an example of someone walking dogs as a side hustle. Instead of finding work through the popular apps, like Rover, look for ways to find clients by word of mouth. For example, she recommended offering sketches of dogs at the dog park to owners as a way to make a one-on-one connection with owners and avoid getting undercut for your service.
“In that regard, you are trading a skill. In this case it’s an adjacent skill. It’s the skill of art that you’re using to market this service that you offer,” Pant said.
By doing that and by making a personal connection, you could charge a higher fee and make more money.
“It is a race to the bottom. Most of the time the people just pick the lowest, cheapest person. They don’t even really go off anything. And if you’re new, you don’t even have any referrals, so you have a really hard time … You actually still are going to have to go out there and network some to get what you need, the extra cash,” Catmull said.
A Scalable Business Model
The first two paths include trading time for money. But the ultimate goal is to stop trading time for money by operating a scalable business.
For example, Pant became a freelance writer after returning from her travels. But in order to scale her income, she eventually started a content management agency. This allowed her to hire other writers to work on projects while she handled bigger-picture stuff.
“Another possible way to do it is to actually build a physical or digital product,” Pant said.
As you consider product ideas, Pant recommended finding niche product opportunities. Try to build items, physical or digital, with a particular customer in mind.
Work On Your Financial Psychology
When you start to seriously look at your financial situation, you might have some negative financial psychology hampering your success. Pant challenged listeners to consider their invisible scripts around money. For example, you might avoid money because you consider it a source of conflict.
“Or do you believe money is the root of all evil? Right? And you see these images in pop culture, right? On the cartoon ‘The Simpsons,’ who is the villain of Springfield? It’s Montgomery Burns,” Pant said.
If you think having money makes you a villain, you are likely to self-sabotage your financial journey. Making the effort to improve your financial psychology can set you up for success.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Finance Influencer Paula Pant Offers the Keys To Building Wealth
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