This Time Is Different

US margin debt, what investors borrow from their brokerages to buy securities, rose 54% from a year ago. Don’t take the punch bowl away! Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: Malcolm’s prediction that Sam Altman will have to walk back OpenAI's spending commitments in the back half of 2026. The mechanics of triple-leveraged ETFs, and how they're driving 10% single-day swings in stocks like Mic...

Polymarket reportedly paid creators to post videos of themselves "winning" bets that didn't exist. The Wall Street Journal found 118 videos showing nearly $900,000 in winnings — bets that, in reality, would have lost more than $166,000, placed on a creatively misspelled lookalike site. Meanwhile, Wendy's is drawing more Wall Street Bets chatter than SpaceX, 80% of its borrowable shares are already...

Elon Musk says SpaceX could hit $1 trillion in revenue by 2030, a fifteen-fold jump from 2027 estimates. Parts of the market feel like they're on fire. So where does a long-term bull actually put money when they don't want to chase 40%-in-a-week moves?  Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: The REITs they're using as cover in an overheated market — cold storage, data centers, and class-A offi...

Is the American Dream Dead? w/ Freddie Smith Over the past 50 years, Americans created roughly $140 trillion in new wealth. Roughly two SpaceX’s worth of wealth reached the bottom half. Actor-turned-economic-commentator Freddie Smith argues the American dream isn't dead, but the timeline to reach it has become unreasonable for the typical worker. Is he right, and what would it actually take to fix...

Google is raising $80 billion, and nearly 40% of it is going to the IRS, not data centers. Is Big Tech cutting employees to pay a tax bill? Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: Why index funds are forced to buy SpaceX at a bad time The Nasdaq rule change that helps big IPOs, and possible reasons why the exchange declined to answer Ricky's questions Why Malcolm is making a list of stocks to b...

SpaceX is mostly an AI company now. Or, that’s where it sees most of its total addressable market in one of the largest economic opportunities “in human history.” Well, that's according to the company. Malcolm is more skeptical. Is this the last big bang in the AI bull market? What's buried in the SpaceX S-1 that nobody's talking about. Whether OpenAI's IPO will land with a thud in SpaceX's shadow...

Malcolm flies solo this week to break down one of the more generous early retirement packages in recent memory, and whether "generous" and "right for you" are actually the same thing. He covers: - What makes Microsoft's offer different from a typical severance package (hint: five years of health care) - The three-bucket framework for deciding if you can actually afford to say yes - Why your RSU ve...

Meta is losing users for the first time in company history. It has a mountain of debt loaded in other development companies. Is this a blip for an unstoppable force or the beginning of a slow decline? Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: - America’s debt problem, and the landmark of owing more than it makes.  - Strategy backtracking on permanent bitcoin ownership.- Why AI stock trading bots...

This isn’t just like the dot-com boom, but you’ll find pockets of “irrational exuberance” if you look a little bit. Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss:  - How arena football shows the “dark part” of the American Dream.  - Why Malcolm believes that parts of the stock market are overheated and what he’s actually doing with his own money.  - If Robinhood can be a casino and a long-term financi...

Someone at OpenAI leaked that it is missing targets, but they didn't leak the numbers. That's either a red flag or a setup. Malcolm Ethridge and Ricky Mulvey discuss: The OpenAI leak: why leak a miss without leaking the actual numbers? Meta deception, the magic trick concept that might explain how big companies manage investor expectations Big tech earnings: Meta's ad machine is working, and Malco...

The companies building the AI future are the same ones laying off thousands of employees. This means that the AI story is changing. LLMs aren’t taking jobs quite yet, but AI companies that took on mountains of debt are cutting staff while interest rates rise. Malcolm Ethridge and Ricky Mulvey discuss: Why Malcolm sold his entire ASML position and trimmed Nvidia. The AI debt trap: how Microsoft, Me...

Is the stock market ignoring the war in Iran? And why did Allbirds shoot up 800% in one single day? Jason Moser joins Ricky Mulvey to talk about: How solid earnings results are powering stock prices. Why Allbird’s pivot to AI is one of the most insane business stories ever. Ricky’s reporting on suspicious trades in the futures market. Stocks and ETFs that JMo has been buying. Host: Ricky Mulvey Gu...

SpaceX could be the biggest IPO in history. Is this the beginning of the space economy, or peak optimism? Ricky and Malcolm sit down with Yuri Khodjamirian, CIO of Tema ETFs, which runs the NASA ETF, an actively managed space fund. They discuss: Why falling launch costs are the key to the space economy. How a publicly traded ETF can own non-public shares of SpaceX. If AST SpaceMobile is a real opp...

OpenAI just wrapped up a $122 billion funding round, but some investors are having trouble selling OpenAI stock in private markets. Malcolm Ethridge and Ricky Mulvey discuss: - Investing during the uncertainty of the Iran War, and one sector where investors may find some safety.  - Oracle’s 30,000 employee layoff. - How more student loans are in default than subprime mortgages during the 2008 fina...

Five minutes before Trump announced a halt to Iran airstrikes, a trader reportedly bought $1.5 billion in S&P 500 futures and sold $200 million in oil futures. The orders were four to six times larger than anything else in the market at that moment. Huh. Isn't that interesting? Also: Afroman won his defamation trial against Ohio police officers. Ricky and Malcolm discuss the economic lessons from...

Seven states now allow full online casinos on your phone, such as slots and blackjack. But, two states, Virginia and Massachusetts, just shelved iGaming bills. Is the tide turning on mobile gambling? Ricky and Malcolm also dig into why gold is falling even as the Iran war drags on, and break down the short report targeting SoFi. In this episode, they discuss: (4:40) Why retail investors are pullin...

The Great Wealth Transfer is such a big conversation that we're dedicating two shows to the topic. Hanna Horvath, CFP®, writes Your Brain on Money. She joins Ricky and Malcolm for the second part of their conversation about the Great Wealth Transfer. In this episode, they discuss:  - The effect of inheritances on romantic relationships. - Family wealth and the creation of bad art. - How the tax sy...

Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge take a breath and explain why right now is a bad time to make big money decisions. They discuss: - The economics of the Iran War, and Ricky breaks down some of his reporting on the cost of the conflict.  - Robinhood’s new investment vehicle for retail investors to buy private companies, and why Malcolm won’t pick up shares. - Live Nation’s $300 million proposed se...

Tens of trillions of dollars are expected to change hands between generations in the coming decades. What does this mean for our society, for the families passing down money, or for the kids who have to pull themselves up by the bootstraps?  Hanna Horvath, CFP®, writes Your Brain on Money. She joins Ricky and Malcolm for a two-part conversation about the Great Wealth Transfer. In this episode, the...

**NOTE: We recorded this before the Iran War started.** Sure, we’ve got earnings coverage, but we are also taking a step back to discuss our personal rules for investing and how to stay disciplined in any market. Malcolm Ethridge and Ricky Mulvey discuss: - How Ricky won $2,600 back from an airline by using AI. - Netflix walking away from Warner Bros. Discovery. - How CAVA’s story is changing, and...

JMo is back! Motley Fool Senior Analyst, Jason Moser, joins Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge to discuss what's actually happening in the AI selloff, and what's just noise. They discuss The companies that AI will not disrupt. If the Citrini Research AI doom scenario, causing a market sell-off, is marketing or reality. Jason’s thoughts on PayPal and Axon. Malcolm’s theory on trading bots driving sw...

Blue Owl Capital just froze quarterly withdrawals from its private credit fund, and retail investors can't access their money. We explain why this isn't just a Blue Owl problem and why you want to know if you own private credit funds. Malcolm Ethridge and Ricky Mulvey discuss: - The private credit crisis, and why your portfolio might have more AI exposure than you think. - Stocks we are buying. -...

The AI selloff is building momentum, and investors are moving to safety. Is it time to become a contrarian? Plus, Ricky reveals Jeffrey Epstein's brokerage statements. They break down his biggest mistakes: $300,000 in Yahoo, terrible options trades, and swing trading that lost money during a bull market. (0:00) - Intro (2:44) - The cybersecurity stock that can thrive as AI-agents spread.  (12:59)...

Why is SpaceX adding an AI company (that Elon Musk also owns)? Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: - Why Warner Bros. Discovery could earn Netflix’s stock a “conglomerate discount”, and why Ricky changed his mind on the stock. - Malcolm breaks down why OpenAI’s relationship with Nvidia could be falling apart. - SpaceX preparing for a massive IPO and bringing xAI along for the ride. - How Br...

Scott Galloway is calling for Americans to “Resist and Unsubscribe,” canceling big tech subscriptions. The call is for cancellations including Amazon Prime, Netflix, ChatGPT, and Apple services. The hope is that it will lead to political change. But will it work? And what happens if it does? Malcolm Ethridge and Ricky Mulvey discuss: - Why Microsoft dropped 12% despite solid earnings. - The econom...