Money On Tap

If a stranger wanted to steal $100,000 from you, how would they do it? Not by hacking your account — by fooling you about who they are. This week we open our own case files (including the scam call that nearly got one of us this summer) and hand you the FEARS test: the five levers behind nearly every fraud, and the habits that defeat them.   On this week's Money On Tap, we take on both sides of th...

Retirement should be simple: you worked, you saved, you stop working, you spend. Except the mistakes people make in this one transition can be the kind you don't recover from. This week we walk through eight of them — the ones we've actually watched happen — so you can see them coming.   On this week's Money On Tap, we start with the frame that changes everything: retirement success isn't about ho...

One of the hardest financial decisions you'll ever face isn't how to make your money grow — it's what to do when someone you love needs it. This week we take on the show that's long overdue: helping family with money without hurting them, your relationships, or your own retirement.   On this week's Money On Tap, we combine the two things people are most emotional about — loved ones and money — and...

A wonderful company can still be a terrible investment if you pay too much for it. This week is a notepad show: we hand you the value investor's vocabulary — economic moats, dividend aristocrats and kings, fair value, free cash flow, payout ratios — in plain English, so the next research note you read actually makes sense.   On this week's Money On Tap, we start with the advice everybody's grandfa...

The Fed says inflation is running 2 to 3 percent. The checkout counter says otherwise. This week we close the gap between the number they report and the number you live — where inflation is actually coming from, why prices are never going back down, and the four levers retirees can pull to fight the affordability squeeze.   On this week's Money On Tap, we start with the distinction that changes ev...

America just officially crossed $40 trillion in national debt. Everyone's talking about the number — almost nobody's talking about what it means for your taxes, your income, and your ability to retire. This week we dig into Uncle Sam's IOU and how to build a retirement that can withstand it. The debt isn't a reason to panic. It's a reason to prepare.   On this week's Money On Tap, we break down ho...

"I have a will. I think it's good." This week we explain why that sentence almost always means "I don't really know" — and walk through exactly what it takes to be estate ready, so the wealth you leave behind improves the next generation instead of tearing it apart.   On this week's Money On Tap, we get into the uncomfortable truth of estate planning: the beneficiary form on an account supersedes...

Value investing spent fifteen years out of fashion. This year, it's beating the index almost everywhere you look — energy up roughly 20%, industrials 17%, healthcare 15%, utilities 14%, financials 12% — while the S&P 500 sits near 8–9%. This week we dig into the return of value investing and what the greatest investors of all time can teach us right now.   On this week's Money On Tap, we go de...

Your S&P 500 fund says 7% — but over 300 of its stocks are beating the index. This week we dig into the massive broadening of the market that almost nobody in the financial media is talking about, and why we think it's the healthiest thing to happen to this bull market in years. For three years, seven stocks did all the talking. This year, the other 493 are answering. On this week's Money On T...

Whatever you've done, there's a very good chance you can recover. That's the message of this week's show — and then Ben and Dan get specific, decade by decade, about the mistakes that quietly sink retirements and the moves that rescue them. In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon walk through the money mistakes of every stage of life. The 20s and 30s: waiting to invest, lifestyl...

The S&P 500 is up about 10.2% this year. That average is hiding one of the most lopsided markets in a decade: energy up 28%, communication services negative, and the Magnificent Seven — the stocks that carried the market for three years — collectively underwater. In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon go beyond the index, sector by sector. They walk the 2026 scoreboard — en...

A new study says the average retired couple needs $1.16 million to retire comfortably. Scary headline — until you do the math. Because retirement was never about reaching a number. It's about the paycheck that number can produce. In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon take the "magic number" apart piece by piece. They trace where $1.16 million actually comes from — $84,000 in a...

Only 20–30% of the AI data centers planned through 2030 are built today. The other 70–80% — the cement, the cooling, the chips, the memory, the power — are still coming. And the companies collecting the profits from that build-out are mostly names the mainstream isn't talking about. In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon go beyond the Mag Seven and into the hidden companies pow...

By 2048, an estimated $124 trillion will change hands — the largest transfer of wealth in human history. Roughly $105 trillion to heirs, $18 trillion to charity. And here’s the uncomfortable truth: about 70% of family wealth disappears by the second generation, and 90% is gone by the third. In this week’s Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon dig into what the great wealth transfer really me...

Ten straight up weeks, then a sharp pullback — and if you’re two to five years on either side of retirement, the fear is real. This is the Retirement Red Zone: the last mile into and out of your retirement date, and the most fragile window in your entire financial life. This week on Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon turn last week’s market-history conversation into a practical playbook f...

Nearly every major index is at a record high — and everyone’s asking the same question: is this the beginning of something great, or the end of something that’s gone too far? This week on Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon take that question apart with 75 years of market history, a few statistics that genuinely surprised them, and a clear look at what a record high means for you — whether...

61% of Americans now fear running out of money in retirement more than they fear death itself. Half of all U.S. households approaching retirement are at risk of falling short of their current standard of living. This week on Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon sit with the topic that shows up in the conference room more than any other these days: retirement anxiety — and why so many Americ...

Two retirees with the same balance can take wildly different incomes home — it's not about returns, it's about taxes. This week on Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon unpack The Science of Retirement Income — How to Create Income Alpha: the practice of beating the market not by picking better stocks, but by keeping more of what you already have through tax-aware planning. What you'll learn...

🎉 Welcome to the 400th episode of Money On Tap. Nine years. Four hundred conversations. To celebrate, the first four callers to 855-226-8551 each get their pick from four pieces of MOT swag. Phone calls only — email won't count. This week, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon close The Railroads of… trilogy with the one that may make all the rest run faster: quantum computing. What you'll learn: What a...

4.3 million industrial robots are already deployed globally. Robot costs have dropped 50% in 30 years. Payback periods are now 1 to 3 years. The reshoring of American manufacturing isn't a forecast — it's a buy order. This week on Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon continue the series with The Railroads of Robotics — the picks-and-shovels playbook for physical AI and the next great indust...

Space just became an asset class. Q1 2026 alone saw $36 billion deployed — and the SpaceX IPO could be the first trillion-dollar offering in history. This week on Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon walk through what they're calling the railroads of space — the picks-and-shovels companies quietly building the rails that everything else will ride on. What you'll learn: Why the SpaceX IPO is...

Tax filing reports what already happened. Tax planning is what puts you back in control. If you just finished paying your 2025 taxes and you're wondering how the bill got that big, this week's Money On Tap is for you. Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon walk through the year-round tax strategies most investors — and most financial advisors — are quietly missing. From bracket management and income engine...

If you missed just the 10 best days in the market over the last 25 years, you would have cut your returns nearly in half. Miss the best 30 days, and you might as well have left the money in a money market. Miss the best 50 days, and you are actually losing money. That is the cost of a market myth. In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon break down the most common — and most expe...

Are today’s tax rates the lowest you’ll ever see in your lifetime? In this episode of Money on Tap, we introduce the concept of “Generation Roth”—a powerful shift in retirement planning focused on building tax-free income in a world where taxes are likely to rise. For decades, traditional retirement planning has relied on tax-deferred strategies like 401(k)s and IRAs. But with growing national deb...

Are you unknowingly losing thousands of dollars in retirement taxes? In this episode of Money on Tap, we break down the science of retirement income and how to create “income alpha”—keeping more of what you’ve already earned. Many retirees focus on growing their portfolio, but the real opportunity lies in tax efficiency, withdrawal strategy, and income planning. In this episode, you’ll learn: • Ho...