Down the Middle
Episodes
Long-Term Mortgages, the Magnificent 7 and More
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this jam-packed episode, Peter and Jeff discuss 50-year mortgages, the Magnificent 7’s recent pullback and low consumer sentiment before offering...
How Does the Government Shutdown Impact the Markets?
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This month, Peter and Jeff discuss two trending topics — the government shutdown and the likelihood of a recession — and the impact they're having...
What Does the Fed’s Recent Move Mean for Markets?
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Federal Reserve recently lowered interest rates despite the market remaining near all-time highs — something that’s occurred only 20 times pre...
Looking Back on Jonathan Clements’ Best Moments
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Mallouk recalls when he first learned of Jonathan Clements and how the two became close friends before introducing a clip show of Jonathan’s f...
Concentration Risk, U.S. vs. International and the Bond Market Warning
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've seen weak performance from U.S. large-cap tech companies this year, but based on their stock market value, these companies still dominate the U....
Keys to a Happier Life
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In recent decades, there’s been a lot of academic research on the topic of happiness — and the resulting insights can benefit us all. Peter and Jo...
The Federal Budget Deficit
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With the recent downgrade on U.S. government debt by Moody’s and a tax bill making its way through Congress that’s projected to widen the federal ...
Seizing Opportunities Amid Market Volatility
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why do many feel this year’s stock market volatility rivals much worse declines of the past? And why are the market’s moments of weakness such a g...
U.S. Stocks: Where Do We Go From Here?
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. stock market has had a rocky start to the year, with some indexes falling more than 10%. Peter and Jonathan discuss what triggered the declin...
All About Alternatives
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Peter and Jonathan discuss what defines an “alternative investment” and what investors can potentially get from these assets that they can't get e...
How Trump Administration Policies May Affect the Economy
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump administration has issued a flurry of proposals and pronouncements affecting trade, taxes, immigration, energy policy and more. What might t...
Financial Resolutions for 2025
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the new year upon us, what financial resolutions should you be making? From lump sum investing to charitable giving, Peter and Jonathan share sev...
What Investors Can Expect in 2025
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With 2024 almost in the books, what will the year ahead mean for investors? Peter and Jonathan discuss the four major investment asset classes — cas...
Financial Moves to Consider Before Year-End
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With just two months left in 2024, time is limited to make important decisions affecting your tax bill, retirement contributions and more. Peter and J...
Don't Let Uncertainty Derail Your Portfolio
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Almost two years into the current stock market rally, worries over the economy, interest rates and this year’s presidential election have many inves...
What's "Normal" for the Stock Market?
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The stock market had a rough start in August after a mostly calm year. But what’s considered “normal”? Peter and Jonathan answer this question a...
A Game Plan for Giving
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gifting and charitable giving are great ways to make an impact. But how should you determine which people and causes to support? This month, Peter and...
A Life Update
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Down the Middle, Peter Mallouk takes on the role of interviewer as Jonathan Clements shares a significant life update. Through thei...
Raising Money-Savvy Kids
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work in most scenarios — and it certainly doesn’t work when teaching children about finances. Join Peter ...
Unlocking the Secrets of Retirement
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Pave a clear path to a happy retirement by considering often overlooked elements of retirement planning on this episode of Down the Middle with Peter...
Is Cash Trash?
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Join Peter and Jonathan as they explore how to determine the optimal balance between cash equivalents and other investments. While cash may be appeali...
A Book for Everyone
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Investing may seem complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. This month, Peter and Jonathan dive into several major themes featured in Peter’s lates...
Remarkable Market Resilience
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As we witness unexpected market resilience and experience all-time highs for the first time in two years, many investors find themselves uncertain abo...
What to Expect in the Year Ahead
29 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With the markets experiencing a significant rebound in 2023, many investors are wondering what lies ahead. Join Peter and Jonathan as they dissect the...
Risks We Face in 2024
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Investing is all about managing risk, and one of the biggest risks we face is our reaction to the latest news, financial and otherwise. This month, Pe...
4 Key Questions
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From worries about political upheaval to the viability of the traditional balanced portfolio, Peter Mallouk and Jonathan Clements tackle four key ques...
Are Interest Rates Keeping the Market Down?
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past 21 months, higher interest rates have hurt stock returns. But will that continue? Peter Mallouk and Jonathan Clements tackle this questi...
Is College Worth the Cost?
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This month, Peter Mallouk and Jonathan Clements discuss what factors help make a college degree “worth it,” when parents should pay for their chil...
Finding Happiness and Purpose With Your Money
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In light of recent research, Peter Mallouk and Jonathan Clements revisit the age-old question of whether money can buy happiness and discuss the best ...
Key Ingredients for a Good Retirement
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From good health to a thriving social network, Peter Mallouk and Jonathan Clements discuss several key ingredients for a good retirement. Plus, learn ...
How Likely Is a Government Debt Default?
26 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Could the Dollar’s Reserve Currency Status Be in Jeopardy?
28 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Regional Banks in Turmoil
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Don't Delay!
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Keeping Our Balance
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Things Not to Do in 2023
30 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
New Year, New Hope
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Bearing Up
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Lemons Into Lemonade
30 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Back to School
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Reasons to Be Optimistic
29 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Episode 40 - Not Your Average Bear
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Episode 39 - Why This Bear Market Is Different
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Episode 38 - Coping With Inflation
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Episode 37 - The Potential Recession, the Personal Impact of Inflation and the Role of Bonds in Your Portfolio
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Episode 36 - Russia, Ukraine, and the Markets
01 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Episode 35 - It’s All About the Earnings
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Episode 34 - 2022 Market Outlook: Predictably Unpredictable
03 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to Peter’s and Jonathan’s recap of 2021: https://creativeplanning.com/education/podcast/episode-33-the-financial-lessons-of-2021/Learn more...
Episode 33 - The Financial Lessons of 2021
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hear more about inflation concerns: https://creativeplanning.com/education/podcast/episode-32-todays-retro-investor-worry-stagflation/Read more about ...
Episode 32 - Today’s Retro Investor Worry: Stagflation
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hear more about inflation and the labor market: https://creativeplanning.com/education/podcast/episode-31-pumpkin-spice-economics-breaking-down-what-y...
Episode 31 - Pumpkin Spice Economics: Breaking Down What You're Seeing With Labor Markets and Inflation
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To read and hear more about inflation: https://creativeplanning.com/education/letter/inflation/, https://creativeplanning.com/education/podcast/episod...
Episode 30 - Are We Overdue for a Market Correction?
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements, and President, Peter Mallouk, this podcast takes a closer look into to...
Episode 29 - Inflation: Still Heating Up
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Inflation continues to top investors' worries. But is it transitory or here to stay? Creative Planning's Peter Mallouk and Jonathan Clements discuss t...
Episode 28 - Is Real Estate a Good Investment?
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Pundits have recently been slapping the “bubble” label on the real estate market. Should you be worried? Creative Planning’s Peter Mallouk and J...
Episode 27 - Up, Up and Away
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Investors' latest fear: rampant inflation. Should we be worried--and what does it mean for our finances? Creative Planning's Peter Mallouk and Jonat...
Episode 26 - Up for Debate
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Creative Planning's Peter Mallouk and billionaire Mark Cuban have two bets going, with the winner determined by performance over the next 10 years. ...
Episode 25 - Investors Gone Wild
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
GameStop. Bitcoin. AMC. Special purpose acquisition companies. NFTs. These aren't just the hottest topics on Wall Street. As Creative Planning's Pete...
Episode 24 - Fun and Gains
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The economy is up, bonds are down and stocks are waffling. But what should investors do? Creative Planning's Peter Mallouk and Jonathan Clements take ...
Episode 23 - The Long and the Short of It
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Peter and Jonathan discuss Reddit traders, hedge funds, skyhigh valuations, miserably low bond yields and the outlook for 2021. Hosted by Creative Pl...
Episode 22 - What Not to Do in 2021
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Peter and Jonathan discuss what you shouldn't do in the year ahead, including listening to market pundits, loading up on recent investment winners and...
Episode 21 - 2020: Lessons Learned and Reaffirmed
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Peter and Jonathan discuss how 2020 has been unique in many ways, yet validates our long held beliefs. Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financ...
Episode 20 - The Unfolding Election and the Markets
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The election results are unfolding and the markets are shrugging. Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements an...
Episode 19 - The Election, Bond Yields, the Never Ending Coronavirus
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter and Jonathan discussThe electionHave the markets really moved beyond COVID-19?Bond yieldsRecord home sales Hosted by Creative ...
Episode 18 - Main St. and Wall St., Election Impact and the Markets
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Are Wall Street and Main Street disconnected?Elections and the markets.How to handle IRA beneficiaries under the new tax laws.We each give our tip of ...
Episode 17 - In Case of Emergency
01 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education Jonathan Clements and President Peter Mallouk, this month’s podcast looks closely at why...
Episode 16 - What the Market Cares About
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education Jonathan Clements and President Peter Mallouk, this month’s podcast looks closely at whe...
Episode 15 - The One Reason to Own Bonds
01 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education Jonathan Clements and President Peter Mallouk, this month’s podcast looks closely at the...
Episode 14 - Coronavirus: The Market Impact and Planning Opportunities
01 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education Jonathan Clements and President Peter Mallouk, this month’s podcast looks closely at loc...
Episode 13 - Coronavirus: How to Respond
02 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education Jonathan Clements and President Peter Mallouk, this month’s podcast looks at the coronav...
Episode 12 - Life Changes - Your Estate Plan Should, Too!
02 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
[0:00] – When to revisit your estate plan and beneficiary designations[4:40] – What life insurance is - and isn’t[7:00] – How to spend Februar...
Episode 11 - The Problem With New Year’s Resolutions…
02 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Time Stamps:[0:00] – Happy New Year, and Happy Birthday, Jonathan![0:35] – New Year’s resolutions – why they fail, and how they can succeed[7:...
Episode 10 - What We’ve Learned in 2019
02 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Time Stamps: [0:00] – What’s going on in Great Britain?[1:15] – The escalating Private Equity market[5:15] – How REITs can rule in real estat...
Episode 9 - When to Claim Social Security
01 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Time Stamps:[0:00] – When to claim Social Security[10:27] – Coping with a financial emergency[13:20] – Funding a Roth IRA [14:00] – Biggest f...
Episode 8 - The How and Why of Diversifying Concentrated Stock Risk
01 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Time Stamps[0:00] – Strategies to mitigate concentrated stock risk[6:20] – Company stock in a 401k plan[9:08] – The right approach to generate r...
Episode 7 – Paying for College
09 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Time Stamps [0:00] - Paying for college [5:41] - College debt [14:37] - Biases people have from childhood [18:30] - Peter Mallouk tip of the month [20...
Episode 6 – How Much Does the President Affect the Economy?
01 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements and President, Peter Mallouk this podcast takes a closer look into topi...
Episode 5 – Does Money Make You Happy?
01 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements and President, Peter Mallouk this podcast takes a closer look into topi...
Episode 4 – How the Financial Media Maximizes Profits
01 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements and President, Peter Mallouk this month’s podcast takes a closer look...
Episode 3: Think You Know What You’re Invested In? Think Again.
30 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Description: Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements and President, Peter Mallouk this month’s podcast takes ...
Episode 2: How to Avoid Blowing Up Your Portfolio
16 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Creative Planning Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements and President, Peter Mallouk this month’s podcast takes a closer look...
Episode 1: Welcome to Down the Middle
15 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hosted by Director of Financial Education, Jonathan Clements and President, Peter Mallouk this month’s podcast explores the recent shift in stock ma...