Money For the Rest of Us
Episodes
Why Some Asset Bubbles Don't Burst
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What conditions need to be in place for an asset bubble to continue and how that applies to stocks, cryptocurrency, and houses.Topics covered include:...
Should You Hedge Your International Stock Exposure From Currency Fluctuations?
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How to decide whether it is worth it to hedge currency exposure when investing outside of your home country.Topics covered include:How currency exchan...
Why Most Cities Thrive and What We Can Learn From Them
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How New York City and other metropolises will overcome the pandemic economic shock. Why do some cities thrive while others devolve into chaos? How we ...
Should You Invest in a Bitcoin ETF?
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why the new U.S.-based Bitcoin ETFs are a bad idea and will underperform Bitcoin.Topics covered include:What fund and ETF options are available for in...
Are Timeshares a Scam? How to Buy and Sell a Timeshare Vacation Rental
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How the economics of timeshare vacation rentals work, and why they can be a great fit for some individuals.Topics covered include:When were the first ...
Will the U.S. Default? Debt Ceilings, Government Shutdowns, and the National Debt
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why the U.S. is closing in on both a debt default and a government shutdown. Topics covered include:How a government shutdown differs from a debt...
Why Are There So Many Shortages?
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is causing the shortage of goods and workers? What should we do about it?Topics covered include:How a tree pandemic killed billions of American C...
Should You Stop Investing in China? - Evergrande, VIEs and other Chinese Risks
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A regulatory crackdown and ideological campaign by the Chinese government has upended the Chinese stock market, which comprises close to 40% of emergi...
Is a Housing Crash Coming?
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What are the demand and supply drivers of home prices? What is the current status of those drivers and do they suggest a housing price crash is immine...
How, When, and Why Should You Rebalance Your Investment Portfolio?
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why bother rebalancing your investment portfolio and what is the best method for doing so.Topics covered include:How a target asset allocation can get...
Which Money Is Crazier: The U.S. Dollar or Bitcoin?
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We compare the U.S. dollar with Bitcoin on their key attributes to determine which is better for transactions and preserving wealth, which is most abs...
Now Is the Best Time Ever to Be an Individual Investor
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What are the advantages and disadvantages individual investors have relative to professional investors. How individual investors can capitalize on the...
The Pros and Cons of Infinite Banking and Whole Life Insurance
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How permanent life insurance can be an effective tool for retirement planning.Topics covered include:What is the difference between term and whole lif...
Is This the Key to Wealth, Freedom and Happiness?
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How owning fewer, more permanent things can lead to greater freedom and continued economic growth.Topics covered include:How a railroad company issued...
How to Profit From Carbon Investing While Combatting Climate Change
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How the carbon emissions allowances and carbon offset markets are structured and how to invest in them.Topics covered include:How much greater are the...
How to Invest in Startups on Equity Crowdfunding Platforms
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The risks and opportunities of investing in startups on equity crowdfunding platforms.Topics covered include:Why do individual investors now have more...
Forward and Reverse Mortgages: When To Take Them Out and When to Pay Them Off
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How to decide when to take out a home mortgage and whether to pay it off early. How reverse mortgages can be a helpful retirement tool.Topics covered ...
Listener Q&A: Individual stocks, housing bubble, crypto, retirement and more
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We answer over a dozen questions from listeners on investing, housing, retirement, business, podcast production, and more.Topics discussed include:The...
Should You Invest in Frontier Markets?
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What are the risks and opportunities of investing in frontier equity markets?Topics covered include:What are the criteria used to determine whether a ...
Should You Buy an Electric Car or Truck?
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What are the pros and cons of owning an electric vehicle (EV) compared with an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. Are electric vehicles worth i...
Investing In Water
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What are ways to invest in water and is it an attractive investment?Topics covered include:How water rights work and how they have been overallocated ...
Why Should You Care About Shadow Banking?
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Half of the global financial system is made up of shadow banks. You have probably already used one. What are shadow banks and what to be wary of when ...
Why The Productivity Slowdown Could Lead to Lower Living Standards
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why productivity growth is key to creating wealth. Why U.S. productivity growth is slowing, and what we can do to increase business and personal produ...
Is Another Great Inflation Coming? Best Inflation Hedges
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How today's inflationary environment is similar and different from the great inflation of the 1970s. What are the best assets to protect your portfoli...
How To Overcome Investing Fears
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Seven ways to manage fear in order to improve your investing. How fear can be beneficial.Topics covered include:Why fear can be both helpful and harmf...
Climate Change, ESG, and What Should Investors Do?
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How businesses, households, governments, asset managers, and investors interact in unpredictable ways to address the risks and opportunities related t...
How to Make Money With Dai, BlockFi and the Evolving DeFi Ecosystem
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is decentralized finance and how it is seeking to solve the shortcomings of centralized finance. How BlockFi and MakerDAO, early entrants in the ...
Inflation, the National Debt and the U.S. Dollar - What Could Go Wrong?
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With a ballooning U.S. federal budget deficit, a growing national debt, and double digit increases in the money supply, is it time to bet against the ...
Why in the World Do You Own Bonds?
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With interest rates rising does it still make sense to own bonds? Yes. This episode explores the role of bonds including why they are more effective a...
Own What Is Real
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There has never been this much money in the world. Now is the time to own real property.Topics covered include:How to buy something with BitcoinHow cr...
Are Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) Good Investments?
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do non-fungible tokens work, what are the risks, and how do NFTs fit within the landscape of investments.Topics covered include:Investing in physi...
Should You Invest in Farmland?
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How much can you earn investing in farmland and what are the risks? What are the ways to invest in farmland?Topics covered include:What determines far...
How The Covid Shock Nearly Destroyed The Financial System
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why the Federal Reserve had to step in again to sop runs on money market mutual funds and keep the financial system from imploding.Topics covered incl...
What Is Tail Risk and Are You Taking Too Much Of It?
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When should you protect against rare, but extreme events? When should you self-insure? Under what circumstance should you sell tail risk protection to...
Why Do We Work So Much?
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How to structure employment so workers are more creative, productive, and happier.Topics include:What percentage of employees work at home due to the ...
Is Silver the Next GameStop? How to Invest in Silver
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why has silver jumped to its highest price in eight years. What you need to know to invest in silver.Topics covered include:What drove the huge spike ...
Meme Stocks, GameStop, Short Squeezes, and Bubbles
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How coordinated buying by retail investors has turned the table on Wall Street. Are there signs of a market bubble?Topic covered include:What are meme...
Are You Underweight Chinese Stocks? Pros and Cons of Investing in China
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Most global stock ETFs, funds and indices have only about 5% invested in China even though China has the second-largest economy in the world. What are...
Is Student Loan Forgiveness A Good Idea?
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Should the U.S. cancel $10,000 or more of student loan debt per borrower? What would be the economic and financial impact? Why the student loan system...
The New Math of Retirement Spending and Investing
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How should individuals invest and spend in retirement with interest rates so low, stock valuations high, and inflation uncertain. Why retirement manag...
Convertible Bonds : The High Return Asset Class That Vanguard Abandoned
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How convertible bonds work, why they gained 50% in 2020 and outperformed stocks over the past five years. Why Vanguard shut down their convertible bon...
2020 - The Year We Will Never Forget
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A review of how the pandemic, financial markets, and government policy evolved in 2020 to make for an unforgettable year.Topics covered include:Why th...
The Economy Is Not a Machine
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How the drive for efficiency leads to greater wealth concentration and threatens capitalism. What can be done about it.Topics covered include:Why inco...
Why Currency Exchange Rates Matter
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How a nation's balance of payments impacts its currency exchange rate as evidenced by Turkey and other countries.Topics covered include:What is a nati...
How To Analyze Complex Investments
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How to determine whether you should invest in a complex investment such as an actively managed ETF that uses option strategies.Topics covered include:...
Somebody Won the Election. Now What?
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As we await the U.S. presidential election results, we review the results of the Trump Administration's economic policies to see if Americans are bett...
Here Come Central Bank Digital Currencies
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How central bank digital currencies would work, what is the motivation to create them and what are the risks.Topics covered include:What percentage of...
What Are SPACs and Should You Invest in Them?
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How special purpose acquisition companies work, what their performance has been and what are the ways to invest.Topics covered include:How much money ...
How to Buy in a Hot Housing Market
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
U.S. home prices are on fire and sales are skyrocketing. Here are 8 rules of thumb for buying a house in a hot housing market when there are multiple ...
Vacation Special: A Discussion with David's Former Investment Firm
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is an interview that Fund Evaluation Group LLC held with David as part of their FEG Insight Bridge podcast series.Topics covered include:...
Paper, Rocks or Digits: What Makes the Best Money?
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are the elements of a successful monetary system.Topics covered include:The stone currency of YapThe fiat currency of ancient ChinaWhy money requ...
Are We Being Forced to Buy Stocks
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How ultra-low interest rates support higher stock market valuations but also make the investment environment more challenging. Is there a stock market...
How to Not Have a Lost Decade
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are four principles individuals can follow to achieve their financial and career goals this decade despite the rough start in 2020.Why we have to...
No One Is Entirely A Buy and Hold Investor
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are the numerous decisions individuals have to make in managing their investments portfolios.Topics covered include:Why individual investors in o...
What the Federal Reserve's New Policies Mean For Your Finances
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Federal Reserve just updated its policy tools. What impact could that have on inflation, interest rates and your investments.Topics covered includ...
Did ETFs Pass the 2020 Market Collapse Stress Test?
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How did ETFs function during the 2020 market sell-off and did the indexing bubble burst? What ETF structures failed the stress test and which passed.W...
Why the Stock Market and Economy Are Rebounding So Quickly
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How the current global recession differs from the Great Financial Crisis and why the recession is probably over.Topics covered include:Why the current...
Investments to Fight Financial Repression
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are some investments that can generate a cash yield greater than inflation in an era when central bank policies keep government bond yields lower...
Coins and Cash: Shortages, Hoardings, and Threats
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is the cause of the current U.S. coin shortage and when have there been other shortages. Why is there a push to get rid of both the penny and the...
Income Share Agreements - Good For Students or Investors?
29 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are the pros and cons of income share agreements for partially funding higher education. Are investing in ISA's a viable opportunity?Topics cover...
Three Approaches to Asset Allocation
22 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are the three primary ways to allocate assets and build a portfolio when saving for retirement or living in retirement.Topics covered include:How...
Are Banks Safe?
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is a bank collapse coming due to bank exposure to collateralized loan obligations as defaults increase?Topics covered include:What are collateralized ...
A 15% Guaranteed Return? Lending on the Fringes of Finance
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An analysis of the returns and risks of different lending platform options including asset-based lending, unsecured peer-to-peer lending, cryptocurren...
How to Do Financial Planning
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why individuals should use a more agile approach to investing and financial planning.Topics covered include:How to incorporate low probability catastr...
Investing Is Not Knowing
17 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How successful investing requires judgment and humility not accurate forecasting ability.Topics covered include:Why pretending to know when you don't ...
Use Caution with Alternative Investments
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How alternative investment opportunities, such as venture capital, private equity, real estate and real assets, are increasing for individuals. Why th...
Ray Dalio and the Changing World Order
27 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are the forces that lead to the rise and fall of nations. Why does the U.S. appear to be in decline and what investors can do to prepare.Topics c...
Has the Pandemic Changed You?
20 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A look at growing patterns consumers and businesses are adopting as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.Topics covered include:Two constants in a radica...
The Stock Market Is Not the Economy
13 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How the stock market differs from and can perform differently than the economy while remaining highly dependent on the economy for its success.Topics ...
How to Protect Your Savings
06 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How to protect your savings from monetary threats like devaluation. Why high yield savings accounts exist, and are they worth it.Topics covered includ...
Why Negative Prices Exist and What They Can Teach Us
29 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why the oil price fell below zero and what are other examples of negative prices. What lessons can we learn from negative prices.Topics covered includ...
Federal Reserve Insolvency and Monetizing the National Debt
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How central banks can become insolvent and why it can lead to hyperinflation. What are four ways the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury could monet...
How Stories Go Viral and Drive Economic Events
15 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How the stories we tell ourselves lead to economic change. What are current pandemic related narratives that are impacting financial markets and the e...
Decision Making: Uncertainty versus Risk
01 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is the difference between risk and uncertainty and how our decision making approach should differ under each scenario. Why pandemics are highly u...
Will Infinite Money Save the Economy
25 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What central banks such as the Federal Reserve and federal governments are doing to counteract the negative impact of the pandemic related economic sh...
How To Survive the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Shutdown
18 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How to avoid ruin and help others avoid ruin as the economy shuts down to slow the spread of the coronavirus.Topics covered include:What is the precau...
What Are Closed-End Funds and How Do You Invest in Them?
11 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why closed-end funds are David's favorite investment vehicle, particularly during market panics. What are the unique characteristics of these funds an...
Market Timing Versus Time in the Market
04 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why most investors practice both market timing and time in the market. Why it is okay to reduce stock exposure given the coronavirus pandemic threat.W...
Will Early Retirements Crash the Economy
26 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Almost half of Millennials want to retire early. Will that hurt economic growth? There were similar concerns in the 1920s that early retirement would ...
What Causes Hyperinflation and What To Do To Prepare For It
19 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What factors lead to hyperinflation, why it is so devastating, how hyperinflation can be overcome and what can individuals do to be prepared for hyper...
Coronavirus and the Financial Impact of Pandemics
05 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How pandemics have impacted the economy and financial markets. Where does the coronavirus rank in severity compared to other pandemics. What portfolio...
Money Is Debt
29 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How most money, such as currency, bank deposits, money market mutual funds, and repurchase agreements, is really short-term debt, often backed by othe...
We Are All Financially Vulnerable
22 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How to protect against financial hardship and assist others who are struggling financially.Topics covered include:Why are so many families leaving Cen...
Why You Should Care About Carry Trades
15 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How investors make money with carry trades, how central banks encourage such trades, and what are the dangers to financial markets and the economy whe...
Is GDP the Best Measure of Happiness and Well-being?
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What factors determine the well-being of an individual or nation and why gross domestic product is an inadequate measure of prosperity.Topics covered ...
Four Forces That Will Shape the Next Decade
18 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How climate change, money, trust and technology will interact to impact financial markets and the economy in the coming decade.Topics covered include:...
Travel and the Trust Economy
11 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How is it the global economy still functions even though most individuals do not trust brands, public institutions or each other.Topics covered in thi...
Why All Retirees Should Consider an Income Annuity
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How a safety-first retirement approach using income annuities is more predictable and takes less money than depending entirely on your investment port...
You Have Permission to Spend
20 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Two Money For the Rest of Us podcast listeners are struggling with spending money. The first listener is 22 and lives in Canada. He feels as if his mo...
How ETFs Are Changing
13 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How regulatory changes could lead to a boom in new ETFs, including actively managed ETFs. Why ETFs continue to be one of the most innovative, cost eff...
Don't Retire, Settle Instead
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How to find your unique work that can bring satisfaction and income before and during the traditional retirement years.Topics discussed in this episod...
Are You Over Diversified?
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Is it possible to be too diversified and how can you tell? Why Warren Buffet thinks diversification is protection against ignorance.Topics covered inc...
BONUS - Audiobook Excerpt from Money for the Rest of Us: 10 Questions to Master Successful Investing
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
David's book Money for the Rest of Us: 10 Questions to Master Successful Investing is now available (at least the e-book version). To celebrate, here ...
10 Questions To Master Successful Investing
23 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What are the timeless principles we can follow in order to become better investors. Topics covered in this episode include:How a book's permanenc...
What is an ETN? - Understanding Exchange Traded Notes
16 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What are the benefits and risks of investing in exchange-traded notes (ETNs) compared with ETFs.Topics covered include:How big is the market for ETNs ...
Is Inflation Measured Wrong?
09 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why some analysts believe the Consumer Price Index formula understates inflation while others believe the CPI formula overstates inflation. What reall...
Financial Independence Is a Choice
02 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why true financial independence means eliminating financial vulnerability including not being overly reliant on stock market appreciation.Topics cover...
Repo Rates Soared—Here's Why It Matters
25 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How a liquidity crunch in the short-term lending markets sent interest rates soaring. Why this is a huge blunder on the part of the Federal Reserve, a...
How the Public Sector Pension Crisis Will Impact You
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why most state and municipal pension plans are underfunded and why that could lead to higher taxes and reduced government services. Why participants i...
How to Better Manage Risk
11 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What are the three steps to better manage risk and get what you really want.Topics covered in this episode include:Why goods and services that lessen ...