Lesson 2: Start with Your Values | Paula Pant

In British author Roald Dahl’s classic novel Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Veruca Salt is a spoiled girl who insists her parents buy whatever she wants right NOW! In the book, she demands one of Wonka’s nut-sorting squirrels; in the 1971 film, she demands a goose that lays golden eggs. Neither attempted purchase ends well. Things usually don’t when you indulge in every desire, especially monetarily. In this video lesson, Paula Pant, host of the Afford Anything podcast, proposes a soberer approach: Align your financial strategy with your philosophy of life, values, and goals.

The “Afford Anything” concept is about making trade-offs. Ask yourself: What trade-offs am I willing to make to live the life that I want?

Grow your money tree

People often start their money management journey by focusing on products or tactics (e.g., financial apps or investment strategies). That’s not where you start — that’s where you end.

Think of personal finance as a tree. Tactics and products are like leaves: They’re the most visible surface, and thus where people often begin. Instead, start at the roots of the tree: your values.

Roots lead up to the tree trunk: your philosophy of life and goals. Next come the branches: the financial strategy you’ll employ to reach those goals. Only once you have a strategy in place should you think about the tactics and products that will serve that strategy.

When faced with decisions about money (or any limited resource), ask yourself: What matters most to me? Your values are at the root of every answer.

Build your root system

First, divide the major components of your life into verticals:

Family

Relationships

Physical health

Emotional health

Spirituality

Career

Legacy

Ask yourself: At the end of my life, what do I want each vertical to look like? Brainstorm a list of everything you want to achieve in each vertical. Then, circle one thing from each list that matters most.

Second, examine your list and ask yourself: Do I want to focus on one item per vertical or more items across fewer verticals? Reflect on points in your life when you felt a state of flow, joy, or meaning:

Who was I with?

What was I doing?

What was the purpose behind the activity?

What contributed to the way I felt?

The idea is to dig under the surface to understand why certain experiences matter to you.

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About Paula Pant:

Paula Pant is the host of the Afford Anything podcast, an award-winning show with more than 24 million downloads. It was named by the New York Times as one of “7 Podcasts Your Wallet Will Love.”

She is also the founder of Afford Anything, a personal finance brand with more than 75,000 newsletter subscribers.

She is a Knight-Bagehot Business and Economics Journalism Fellow at Columbia University.

Pant is frequently featured in financial media including Money Magazine, the Washington Post, Oprah.com, CNBC, Fortune, Marie Claire, Marketplace Money, Men’s Health, Real Simple, Outside Magazine, Cosmopolitan, the New York Times, and more. She’s spoken at the “Talks at Google” series and guest lectured at Georgetown University. She lives in New York City.