
How our spending, investing, and life strategy change as our net worth grows. We consider how skill, luck, discipline, relationships, and AI can allow us to ascend and, in some cases, descend the wealth ladder.
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Show Notes
Of Dollars and Data - Nick Maggiulli
The Wealth Ladder by Nick Maggiulli
Ritzholz Wealth Management
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461: How Much Should Your Net Worth Grow Each Year?
252: How to Become Wealthy
119: Investing Won't Make You Rich
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Jun 18
37 min

Circle Invest, one of the leading stablecoin providers, just went public, and its stock price has tripled. We delve into the growth of stablecoins, their applications, and the associated risks. We also discuss the surprising political pushback against central bank digital currencies.
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Show Notes
Top Stablecoin Tokens by Market Capitalization—CoinMarketCap
Runs and Flights to Safety: Are Stablecoins the New Money Market Funds? by Kenechukwu Anadu et al—New York Fed
Amendment No. 3 to FORM S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933—SEC
Why Crypto Stablecoins Still Worry the Fed by Olga Kharif and Yueqi Yang—Bloomberg
Central Bank Digital Currency Tracker—Atlantic Council
STRENGTHENING AMERICAN LEADERSHIP IN DIGITAL FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY—The White House
Stablecoins and monetary sovereignty: the ball is in Europe’s court by Ignazio Angeloni—The Financial Times
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488: Should You Invest in an Ethereum ETF?
424: Are More Bank Runs Coming? The Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
387: Why Most Money Fails
373: Are Stablecoins Safe? Should You Own Them?
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Jun 11
27 min

From wildfires to AI-driven demand surges, the power grid is under pressure—and so is the investment landscape around it. Scott Harland of Rockland Capital visits with Greg Dowling of FEG to explore the risks, opportunities, and critical shifts shaping the future of energy.
Topics covered include:The necessity of a balanced energy mix, including traditional and renewable energy sourcesHow the private sector is playing a larger role in building out energy infrastructureRising energy demand from data centers and AI, and how that demand can be met
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Show Notes
Hungry, Hungry, Hyperscalers with Scott Harlan - FEG Insight Bridge
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502: Should You Invest in Nuclear Energy?
469: Which Will Perform Better: Berkshire Hathaway or Utility Stocks?
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Jun 4
40 min

With longer-term U.S. interest rates rising and no plan to reduce the budget deficit, is a U.S. national debt crisis imminent?
Topics covered include:Why S&P, Fitch, and now Moody's stripped the U.S. of its pristine AAA debt ratingHow the U.S. national debt dynamics compare to Greece, Italy, and JapanWhat are four things investors should monitor for signs that the national debt crisis is worsening or spiraling out of control
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Show Notes
Moody's Ratings downgrades United States ratings to Aa1 from Aaa; changes outlook to stable—Moody's Ratings
Research Update: United States of America Long-Term Rating Lowered To 'AA+' On Political Risks And Rising Debt Burden; Outlook Negative—S&P Global
Interest Expense and Average Interest Rates on the National Debt FY 2010 – FYTD 2025—FiscalData.Treasury.gov
The Stark Math on the GOP Tax Plan: It Doesn’t Cut the Deficit by Richard Rubin—The Wall Street Journal
The Long-Term Budget Outlook: 2025 to 2055—Congressional Budget Office
Walmart says higher prices could hit this month due to tariffs by Natalie Sherman—BBC
Post on May 17th, 2025; 7:27 AM by Donald J. Trump—Truth Social
Walmart responds to Trump comment that retailer should ‘eat the tariffs’ by Kyler Swaim—The Hill
What’s behind Japan’s High Government Debt? by YiLi Chien and Ashley H. Stewart—Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
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487: Are We Heading for a 2030s Depression? Global Economic and Population Shifts
479: National Debt Master Class Finale – What To Do
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May 21
24 min

How can we apply the same emergency measures that Harvard and other universities are using to navigate a financial crisis? Also, how universities invest their endowments and what their performance has been.
Topics covered include:What has led to the financial crisis at HarvardWhat actions has the university takenHow do endowments invest and spend their fundsHow endowments maintain intergenerational equityHow we can apply the principles universities use in our own investing
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Show Notes
Letter Sent to Harvard 2025-04-11—Harvard
Harvard Response 2025-04-14—Harvard
Trump Administration Will Freeze $2 Billion After Harvard Refuses Demands by Vimal Patel—The New York Times
Should Harvard Be Tax Exempt? by The Editorial Board—The Wall Street Journal
Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Reforms Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education—The White House
At Grim Town Hall, Harvard Medical School Leaders Tell Staff to Expect Layoffs and Far-Reaching Cuts by Avani B. Rai and Saketh Sundar—The Harvard Crimson
Can Harvard Use Its Endowment To Make Up For Federal Cuts? It’s Possible, but Not That Simple. by Avani B. Rai and Saketh Sundar—The Harvard Crimson
Yale Weighs $850 Million Bond Sale Amid Trump’s Higher Education Attack by Elizabeth Rembert and Amanda Albright—Bloomberg
Yale seeks to sell billions in private equity investments as political pressures from Trump mount by Liese Klein—CT Insider
2024 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments—NACUBO
Endowments Face Liquidity Crunch Amid Market Pullback, Funding Cuts by Matt Toledo—Chief Investment Officer
Big investors borrow against private equity holdings amid cash crunch by Amelia Pollard and Antoine Gara—The Financial Times
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402: Why Student Debt Is So High and Forgiving It Doesn’t Fix the Problem
245: Is College Worth It?
180: Can You Outperform Harvard’s Endowment?
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May 14
25 min

Discover how bond market ETFs have transformed investing — making bonds easier, cheaper, and more accessible than ever. We also explore how the bond market’s very composition has evolved.
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Show Notes
The total return strategy in bonds is far from dead by James Bianco—The Financial Times
What I Learned in My First Year Managing Fixed-Income by Jim Bianco—Bianco Research Advisors
ETFs are eating the bond market by Robin Wigglesworth and Will Schmitt—The Financial Times
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463: How to Lock in Higher Yields in Case Interest Rates Fall
455: Easier Investing, Richer Life: TIPS Ladders to Annuities
418: Bond Investing Masterclass
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May 7
26 min

Ali Akay, CIO of Carrhae Capital, answers why invest in emerging markets. He also shares with Greg Dowling of FEG insights on China, Mexico, South Korea, Argentina, Greece, Turkey, South Korea, and South Africa.
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Show Notes
Emerging Unscathed: Featuring Ali Akay—FEG Insight Bridge
Related Episodes
474: Are Emerging Markets Bonds a Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity?
411: Is Emerging and Frontier Markets Investing Still Worth It? – With Asha Mehta
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Apr 30
34 min

The U.S has traditionally been a safe haven for investing, but that hasn't been the case in 2025. We explore three economic and narrative regimes and consider why we may be witnessing a shift after 12 years of U.S. outperformance.
Topics covered include:What was the narrative and economic and financial performance from 1995-2001, 2002-2012, and 2012 -2024.How the performance of the U.S. dollar impacted returnsWhy did economic forecasters predict the U.S. national debt would be paid off in 2011, and why were they wrong?Signs that the current economic and financial narrative is shifting.
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Show Notes
Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan Outlook for the federal budget and implications for fiscal policy Before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. Senate January 25, 2001—The Federal Reserve Board
Federal Surplus or Deficit [-] as Percent of Gross Domestic Product—FRED Economic Data
Nonfarm Business Sector: Labor Productivity (Output per Hour) for All Workers—FRED Economic Data
Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events by Robert J. Shiller—Princeton University Press
Donald Trump vs Mr Market by Tim Harford—The Financial Times
Tourism boycott? Europe travel to US drops in wake of Trump presidency by Talyta França & Alessio Dell'Anna, Mert Can Yilmaz—euronews
Trump’s Trade Offensive Threatens America’s Financial Primacy by Nick Timiraos, Jack Pitcher, and Chelsey Dulaney—The Wall Street Journal
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519: Is This the End of Globalization and Free Trade?
380: How Stories Drive Our Happiness and Financial Success
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Apr 23
19 min

In this episode, we explore what it means to invest in a non-ergodic world—where time, not averages, determines outcomes. We unpack concepts like volatility drag, ensemble vs. time averages, and the implications for portfolio strategy, while also reflecting on how AI and zero-click search are reshaping business and investor behavior.
Topics covered include:What is ergodicity and why it mattersHow path dependency and emerging phenomena disrupt the long-termHow podcasting and blogging has changedWhat is the future of Money for the Rest of Us
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Show Notes
Wayback Machine: jdstein.com
Probabilities and Payoffs: The Practicalities and Psychology of Expected Value by Michael J. Mauboussin and Dan Callahan, CFA—Morgan Stanley
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb—Penguin Random House
The 60% Problem — How AI Search Is Draining Your Traffic by Tor Constantino, MBA—Forbes
Hollywood Is Cranking Out Original Movies. Audiences Aren’t Showing Up. by Ben Fritz—The Wall Street Journal
How Late Night TV Is Downsizing by Alex Weprin and Rick Porter—The Hollywood Reporter
‘Severance’ Surpasses ‘Ted Lasso’ To Become Apple TV+’s Most Watched Series With Season 2 Launch by Nellie Andreeva—Deadline
List of most watched television broadcasts in the United States—Wikipedia
Tao te Ching by Lao Tzu (Author), Marc Mullinax (Translator)—fortress press
Why AI Might Not Take All Our Jobs—If We Act Quickly by Justin Lahart—The Wall Street Journal
Elon Musk and the Dangerous Myth of Omnigenius by Gautam Mukunda—Bloomberg
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492: The Power of Optionality: Small Bets, Big Payoffs
484: 7 Steps to Living a Longer Life
482: Unlocking the Power of Positive Skewness: Strategies for Investing, Business, and Creativity
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Apr 16
26 min

What will the impact be now that the U.S. has one of the highest tariff rates in the world?
Topics covered include:Why the Trump administration raised tariffsHow the last round of U.S. tariffs led to higher prices and lower economic growthFour ways the world remains close to record connectivityWho have been the winners and losers from global tradeWhat will be the impact of this trade war
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Show Notes
The economic consequences of Mr Trump – looking for clarity in the tariffs chaos by Neil Shearing—Capital Economics
Tariff rate, most favored nation, simple mean, all products (%)—World Bank Group
Donald Trump’s tariffs will fix a broken system by Peter Navarro—The Financial Times
DHL Global Connectedness Tracker—DHL
Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach by Karl R. Popper—Oxford University Press
GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$)—World Bank Group
JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ, GLOBALIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS REVISITED: ANTI-GLOBALIZATION IN THE ERA OF TRUMP, NEW YORK: W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, 2018 by Lino Sau—Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi
FIFTY YEARS OF GROWTH IN AMERICAN CONSUMPTION, INCOME, AND
WAGES by Bruce Sacerdote—National Bureau of Economic Research
Real Median Household Income in the United States—FRED
Employed full time: Median usual weekly real earnings: Wage and salary workers: 16 years and over—FRED
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food in U.S. City Average/Median Household Income in the United States—FRED
Trump’s Love for Tariffs Began in Japan’s ’80s Boom By Jim Tankersley and Mark Landler—The New York Times
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515: Tariffs and the Mar-a-Lago Accord: What Trump Really Wants
516: What Trump Wants Part 2 – How Trade Deficits and Capital Flows Can Harm or Help Countries
427: Did the Tariffs Work? The Trade War Five Years Later
212: Trade Wars Increase Prices and Poverty
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Apr 9
21 min
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