Critical Thinking Required

For this episode, we invited Robert Sheck, the general manager of Weinstein & Piser Funeral Home to talk about funeral planning.  It’s a difficult topic for most people of course, but it’s also a very necessary one.  Tim started the conversation by asking what should one consider when they begin burial planning?  And what do people miss in the process?  Robert pointed out that funeral planning...

This is our quarterly commentary episode.  Are we facing inflation?  If so, what does that mean, and how does that impact our daily life?  The team put in their two cents.  Real estate has been crazy for a while now, but for the past couple of weeks, we have seen a fast rise of buyers not only paying way over the asking price but waiving all contingencies including inspections.  Tim himself is loo...

For this episode, we invited Abby Rosenblum, the founder of “The Social: Modern Matchmaking”, to talk about dating and matchmaking.  Abby switched from her career as a TV producer to a professional matchmaker three years ago.  She said that for both jobs, the key is to ask the right questions, and make your audience feel comfortable.  Dan asked what Abby doesn’t like about this industry - her answ...

This is Part II of the episode.  We mainly talked about the barriers and risks involved in the industry and what the future could look like.  As a scientist, Echo wished she could do research freely, across state lines, and without having to come up with creative ways to dodge unnecessary regulations.  Josh thought one of the biggest issues is money: the best product no longer wins the market.  It...

This is Part I of the episode, where we invited Toxicologist Echo Rufer and Cannabis expert Joshua Hoffman to talk about the cannabis industry.  Back in 2018 and 2019, we couldn’t have a conversation with clients without them asking about cannabis.  But for the past two years, the new “hot baby” seems to be cryptocurrency.  What happened?  According to Josh, due to regulation, and the fact that th...

This topic fires us up quite a lot because we LOVE and are PASSIONATE about our job, yet our industry overall is not up to our standards.  We kicked off the episode with the brief history of “financial advisors”: from being the platform (back then, individuals couldn't trade stocks without a broker), to selling products (that’s what the majority of today’s brokers and dealers are selling: ins...

In this episode, we invited our former intern and current summer employee Jerard Stoegbauer to talk about how his academic life prepared (or didn't prepare) him for the real world.  Jerard graduated this past May from UW-Madison with a degree in Personal Finance.  He believes that other than academic learning, the most important experience in one's college life is to learn how to meet ne...

Light a candle, pop the cork, and relax - we are going to talk about wine today!  We invited Wollersheim Winery & Distillery owners Philippe Coquard and Céline Coquard Lenerz to talk about their family business.  We kicked off the podcast with a brief overview of Wollersheim's story, how it started and how it has since grown.  As the 13th and 14th generation of a winemaker family, Philipp...

In this episode, we invited sociologist, relationship & online dating expert Dr. Jess Carbino to talk about dating apps and online dating.  Dr. Jess moved to L.A. for her Ph. D. in sociology and got onto dating apps to make friends and find her special someone.  Instantly, she got interested in how people present themselves online, and how they define “attractive.”  She talked about the massiv...

This is Part II of “So, You Want To Start A Business!?”.  As Nathaniel mentioned, it’s extremely important to choose the right structure for your entity (LLC, Partnership, C-Corp, S-Corp, Sole Proprietorship, etc.) Not only will it affect your taxes, but more importantly, it will also ensure or obstruct your company’s future growth.  Other things that are necessary: a business plan, a continuity p...

In this Part I of “So, You Want To Start A Business!?”, we talked about the cornerstone of starting a business and the preparation phase.  Before you start a business, it’s important to ask yourself: why am I doing this, and who is my audience?  Almost as soon as you start your business, you need to know how you are going to exit.  Why so early to think about exit strategy, you ask?  Because how y...

Nerd alert!  In this episode, we are going to talk about how to create a framework that not only works for investing but can be also applied in every aspect of life.  Dan first introduced the concept of “Circle of Competence”: imagine a big circle, that’s all the things you don’t know; within it, a slightly smaller circle, that’s all the things you think you know (but you don’t); and then in the m...

For this episode, we invited Dan’s former classmate Francis Son to talk about his photography career.  Francis is a Chicago-based photographer who works in commercial photography with corporate/non-profit events and fashion photography.  We kicked off the podcast by asking Francis what makes a good photographer?  He thought that one of the most important elements is understanding how light works i...

In this episode, we learned self-leadership from our friend Zach Ketterhagen.  Zach is a self-leadership coach, blogger, meditation teacher, and healthcare strategist.  First, we started the conversation with how Zach got into this practice, and what is self-leadership.  Self-leadership is about defining success on your own terms.  It has three layers: define what you want, know how to get there,...

This is our quarterly update episode where we talk about the trendiest financial topics from the past quarter (if we haven't already covered it in a separate episode). We started the conversation with people's concerns regarding inflation and rising rates. Tim and Nathaniel discussed the potential impact on the economy and the market if inflation occurs. However, as Nathaniel said, we do...

Are you a car enthusiast?  In this episode, we invited Alex Schremp to talk about luxury cars.  Alex is the owner of Autohändler, a service-based car dealership.  As always, we started the conversation with "why this industry?", and then asked what are the most important factors in buying a luxury car?  Interestingly, Alex said it's about how it makes you feel and who you want to be...

In this episode, we invited Dan's close friend Jônatas Chimen to speak with us about the art world.  If you are an artist or in the marketing/creative industry, you have to watch this episode!  Jônatas is a Brazilian-American Symbolist artist, author, academic, and public speaker.  Jônatas started by explaining how his inspiration came from his own family's history of migration, adaptati...

In this episode, we invited our close friend Saran Ouk.  Saran is the Founder and CEO of conNEXTions, a non-profit organization that guides underrepresented young adults to achieve their financial, educational, and career goals through mentoring, networking, and professional development. Born in a refugee camp in Thailand, Saran and her family were able to come to the U.S. as refugees thanks to a...

Diane Seder has had a very inspiring career.  She joined the valves manufacturing family business "Milwaukee Valve" against all advice back in the late '70s when the industry was "not suitable for women", and worked her way up from the very bottom.  We invited Diane to mainly talk about the sale of this multigenerational family business.  Diane was clear about two key poin...

We are honored to present this episode with Betsy Hughes.  Betsy has spent her entire career, nearly 40 years, as a student of philanthropy.  Just in the last 20 years, she has raised more than $500M—for universities, museums, and human services organizations.  Nathaniel started the conversation by asking in the U.S., who's your typical major donor, and where does their money go?  Without any...

In this episode, we invited Will Robus to speak with us about cybersecurity.  Will is the CEO of Outpost Security, a company that provides a revolutionary approach to managing cyber threats.  We kickoff the podcast by asking Will to give us a broad picture of the cybersecurity space, and why it's not talked about that much.  Will explained the two sides of the industry: public-facing security...

If you want to learn about how to increase your credit score and what credit cards to get, don't miss this episode!  Dan started the video by talking about the 5 key elements of building your credit score: paying your bills on time and in full, capacity, credit history, new credit, and credit mix.  It's always a good idea to establish your credit history as early as possible.  Dan then d...

Our most popular guest Tony Bickmore is back!  In this episode, we discussed one of the all-time favorite topics: real estate investment.  Tim first asked about house flipping, and Tony cautioned our audience not to try to outsmart the numbers.  He explained his real estate investment framework: for short-term investments, it's about being in touch with the neighborhoods, understanding their...

In this episode, we discussed the recent "King of Performance" GameStop's maniacal rise and social media's role in the new investing world.  After briefly explaining what happened to GameStop's stock price, Nathaniel pointed out that the stock price is nowhere close to what the dying company is actually worth, and it will not last in the long term.  Dan revealed a differen...

In this episode, we invited one of Dan's friends Brian Levenson to talk about his new book: Shift Your Mind: 9 Mental Shifts to Thrive in Preparation and Performance.  Brian works with major athletes in the NBA, NHL, and MLS as well as business executives.  After briefly introducing how Brian got into his executive and mental performance coaching business, we discussed the concept of achievin...