This Time Is Different

In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge discusses the phenomenon of frugality inertia, and why it keeps retirees from being able to enjoy their retirement. He shares his insights on how it can help to reframe your focus and spend that retirement nest egg on things that will enhance your quality of life, ultimately leading to a happier and healthier version of yourself. Malcolm Ethridge Discusses: The co...

In recent years, the rise of digital currencies has revolutionized the way we think about money and finance, with more and more individuals and businesses embracing the potential of blockchain technology. However, with this rapid growth has come a significant amount of uncertainty and confusion around the legal and regulatory frameworks that govern this new asset class. And as the crypto industry...

Investing is a way to grow your money over time, and secure your financial future. When you invest without a clear plan, you're more likely to make decisions based on emotions, rather than logic. You may be tempted to buy a stock because it's the latest hot trend or sell a stock because you're afraid of losing money. However, when you invest with a purpose, you have a plan in place that guides you...

Nobody enters a marriage expecting to get divorced. Yet, regardless of our best intentions, relationships can and do fall apart. While the emotional roller coaster of divorce is difficult enough, the added frustration of financial litigations can make a situation that much worse. Unfortunately, the current system of divorce in the United States does a poor job of educating clients on the alternati...

Picture this: you’re working for one of the FANG companies, in a high-paying role, with unlimited PTO, free food, and plenty of responsibility -- sounds pretty ideal right? But there’s one big problem: you can’t take it anymore. On one hand, you feel guilty because you’ve ascended to a position many of your peers could only dream of. On the other, you’re unmotivated, unproductive, and struggling t...

The most common example of social trading is when individual investors follow successful traders on social trading platforms and copy their trades. This can help investors who lack the time, experience, or confidence to invest on their own to achieve similar returns to more experienced traders. But, if you’ve ever traded stocks or crypto on Robinhood, and immediately received a prompt letting you...

Traditionally, we are taught from a young age that anyone who fails to pay their bills on time and in full is either irresponsible, lazy, or otherwise bad with money. By the time a person reaches young adulthood, they have essentially learned rule #1 of managing your personal finances: pay every bill on time, no matter what. The reality though is that the importance of paying yourself supersedes p...

The promise and allure of passive income is undeniable. The idea of making money “while you sleep” has led to a proliferation of personalities and influencers telling us how to build income streams through dividends, real estate, online courses, e-books, and more. Unlike the day-to-day income most workers are accustomed to, passive income allows you to receive earnings, royalties, or sales in perp...

The Fintech sector is responsible for the rapid transformation and digitalization of financial tools that help consumers intelligently manage and understand their money. Making an incredibly positive impact, financial services companies distance consumers from the legacy banking system and provide access to historically underrepresented communities. Despite this progress, it is a well known fact t...

Equity is an important aspect of any tech worker’s overall compensation. This employee perk gives you a stake in the company and incentive to perform. Not only should it be negotiated upon hire, but also leveraged to its full-potential as your career progresses. When times are good, it’s comfortable to continue taking shares, but what happens when the market sours? The looming recession is forcing...

The process of assets changing hands from one generation to the next within a family is what we mean when we use the term "generational wealth." But in actuality, the next generation may not be equipped to manage the money they inherit. However, it is also true that family wealth can be diluted as it is divided amongst children and other heirs, especially if each has a different stance on how to i...

It’s widely believed that work is something that is supposed to happen between the hours of 9 to 5, 40 hours per week, 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year, for 40 years, until age 65 or later. Then, and only then, are you allowed to think about and prioritize the people and things that matter to you the most. Or at least that’s how it seems. But in reality, you should also be spending your younger...

Long gone are the days of investing solely for the bottom line. A growing percentage of investors want to put their hard-earned money behind organizations that align with their personal values. Some want to move away from a one-size fits all basket of blue-chip stocks, for one that supports initiatives that actually matter to them. While some may strictly invest in this manner as an outward expres...

In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with friend of the show, Chris Hill, to discuss ways to identify and develop your own investor personality. Chris reflects on some of his best and worst investing decisions over the years. And the pair share some of their own rules for determining which stocks to buy and when. Chris Hill discusses:  The difference between being a value or growth investor...

According to a recent survey conducted by Bankrate dot com, Americans’ biggest financial regret is not saving enough for emergencies. In fact, 20% of respondents gave this answer - even topping the reigning top response related to saving too little for retirement. And when broken down further, older millennials (36 percent) were more than twice as likely than baby boomers (14 percent) to say they...

As a founder, it can be challenging to know when to make the shift from pouring every dollar you have into getting your startup off the ground to taking a few chips off the table to eventually paying yourself first. However, every business owner should begin to separate their own personal finances from the business as soon as possible for a few different reasons. In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge...

For startups, investors often put a lot of emphasis on cap tables. They want to see a diluted picture of equity ownership among you as a founder, any co-founders or partners, early investors, and key employees before they’ll seriously consider handing over a check to invest themselves in your company. That’s because a healthy cap table illustrates not only your business’s potential for growth in t...

Though it may seem like a very distant and high-class problem that only the super-wealthy among us will ever have to contend with, for many tech workers who have accumulated a significant sized stake in their employer, it is not unlikely that estate taxes are something they will have to consider as a part of their overall financial plan. In fact, with the number of bills currently floating around...

As anyone who has ever bought and sold any sort of digital asset in the last couple years can attest, the rules and regulations around reporting those transactions to the IRS can be very fuzzy. Coupled with the lack of information made available by the IRS itself, and the lack of general knowledge and adoption of crypto by the accounting community, it can be very tough for investors to make heads...

A stock option is the right to buy a specific number of shares of either a stock or an index at a preset price. These options allow traders to speculate on the directional performance of a stock or index without owning the shares outright. For better or worse, options trading has now been democratized and made available to just about anyone, regardless of their individual risk tolerance, risk capa...

In the simplest terms, a mentor is anyone who possesses more experience and knowledge than you in a given industry. They have skills you want to master in order to thrive. And you’d rather lean on their experience and expertise and learn from their mistakes, rather than having to go and make those same mistakes on your own. Entrepreneurs need mentors especially, and perhaps more than other profess...

We’ve all heard the popular saying “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” But when you hear the word “networking,” how many of the feelings that start to bubble up are negative ones, such as anxiety, discomfort, and maybe even fear? And that word can be especially triggering for those who consider themselves introverts. And while there have been several social media platforms and other tech t...

Historically, gold and other precious metals have been how we trade with one another across borders and globally. Gold bars were the original store value before there was such a thing as the US dollar. The gold standard was so consistent in its ability to maintain its value through varying economic cycles that we backed up our dollars with it. Incorporating precious metals into a diversified portf...

One of the biggest problems that need to be solved almost immediately after launch is making some noise to let the public know you and your product or service exist. If not, no matter how good that product or service is, you likely won’t be in business for very long. And as daunting as it might sound, blitzscaling your content creation can be done; especially with the use of social media. In this...

For those who have thought of an idea for a tech startup in a crowded space, it can be tempting to think that your idea must be completely brand new and inventive. Especially when you consider the seemingly ubiquitous announcements that so-and-so big name venture capital investor has chosen to back so-and-so startup looking to go where no one has gone before, which tend to dominate the headlines....