Joe, when you were a financial planner, did you have clients who came to you and said, you know what, I'm doing well, but I want to be doing better. A hundred percent of them, like everybody. Well, why are you going to hire a financial planner? You're like, yeah, I think I'm doing okay, but I think with your help, I can supersize it. But sometimes people hire financial planners because they're in a moment of financial distress, right?

Agreed. And you know what's funny? I think it was a combination of the two. It was I have this

inflection, which was generally, I'm thinking about retirement and not thinking about it 10 years from

now. I'm thinking about it like in six months. We just had a baby. We're getting married. We're thinking about

buying a new house. There was totally this inflection moment. But also, they thought, I think I need help

because I think I can do better. Well, we're going to talk to someone who has that question

and is not so much in an inflection moment, but right at that midpoint of life

where you're old enough to be established but still young enough that you've got decades ahead

of you and you've got the opportunity to make big changes ahead. Awesome. We're going to tackle that

as well as a question about health insurance, Cobra, and a question about long-term care.

Welcome to the Afford Anything podcast, the show that knows you can afford anything, not everything.

This show covers five pillars. Financial Psychology, increasing your income, investing, real estate,

and entrepreneurship. It's double-eye fire. I'm your host, Paula Pant. I trained in economic

reporting at Columbia. Every other episode ish. I'm your host, Paula Pant. I trained in economic reporting at Columbia.

Every other episode, ish. I answer questions from you. And I do so with my buddy, the former financial planner, Joe Sal C-high. What's up, Joe? I like the ish. It's like the asterisk. Well, you know, it's a loose every other episode. It gives us some flexibility. Yes. And we always want to build inflexibility, no matter what you do, right?

We talk about having a cash cushion, the... It gives us some flexibility. Yes, and we always want to build in flexibility, no matter what you do, right?

We talk about having a cash cushion. The is Paula's cash cushion on this podcast. Right, you know,

because sometimes someone goes on vacation. Who would do that? Joe, you just got back from 18 days in Greece.

Yeah, that sucked. It was horrible. I cried the whole time.

You missed the show so much. If I could only be hanging out with the afford anything community,

but I'm here on the beach in a Greek island. Oh. So we recorded a two-part episode with J.L.

Collins to occupy one of the Tuesdays. That bum? You had to work with that bomb instead of me? Yeah. To fill in for one of the episodes that we couldn't record together. I'm glad it took J.L. Collins to fill these shoes. It makes me very proud. Well, let's get to our first question, which comes from Jalen. Hi, Paula. My husband and I are both 41 years old. We have three children, ages 8, 11, and 13. I'm a physician, and he works as a commercial project manager.

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