401k Investing for Newbies and Nerds

Send us Fan Mail Our lives are dominated by and consumed by technology. We can turn our house lights on from a phone in our car. Our car recognizes us. The best chess player in the world is a server farm. This has lead us to believe that all our problems can be solved by technology. We refuse to believe that the best investment outcome is simple and close to free. In this episode of my incredibly...

Send us Fan Mail What's in a name? I have chosen this iconic line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to impress you with a fact that I am a learned, erudite professional and not just some off the street strapping hanger, bloviating about the market. This episode of my incredibly insightful podcast is directed at the 90 million Americans who have their life savings invested in a 401(k) p...

Send us Fan Mail Wall Street Dummi es are engaged investors who realize that Wall Street’s jibber jabber generates more money for Wall Street than for Main Street. They view the moniker Dummy as a badge of honor and a single digit salute to the Wall Street elite. They are vigorous advocates of index funds and discounts brokers, and employ them in their retirement accounts to outperform the pros. ...

Send us Fan Mail The internet has been flooded with articles claiming that emulating Buffett will make you rich. Unfortunately, the methodology most cited was in vogue 40 years ago. Using antiquated methodology to deal with modern technology is an exercise in futility.  A more reasonable approach is to do as Buffett says, not do as he does. This incredibly insight episode will document Buffett’s R...

Send us Fan Mail Over the course of the past few weeks, Mr. Market has been on a tear. Most people view his actions as chaotic, unexplainable and unpredictable. In this incredibly insightful and entertaining episode of my podcast, I will explain to you the rationale behind Mr. Markets seeming irrationality. By pealing back, the smoke and mirrors of the financial media’s ramblings, Wall Street Dumm...

Send us Fan Mail Shakespeare wrote, “A rose by any other name would still smell sweet. That may apply to horticulture, but it doesn’t work when applied to stock market indexes. In this incredibly insightful episode of my podcast, l explain the differences between the primary indexes and those bastardized versions created in the smoke field back rooms of Wall Street’s marketing departments. Support...

Send us Fan Mail If you think that Mr. Market’s recent hissy fit was the result of a gaggle of investors, calculator in one hand and index finger on the execute button; GUESS AGAIN. In this captivating and insightful episode, I will take you through, blow by blow, how the rapacious mavins of Wall Street used computers and snake oil to turn news blips into ginormous trading profits. I will close wi...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of my extremely insightful podcast, I document the evolution of the financial services industry from one that was an entirely manual process dominated by the legacy Wall Street firms to the current electronic system where the internet discount brokers are now the dominant party.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail According to a small gaggle of self-appointed fortune tellers in the financial media, the market is on the verge of a horrific collapse, hurling all non-believers into a fiery pit. The cause of this rapidly approaching market apocalypse is the S&P 500’s concentration in the magnificent Seven; Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. Last year, more than h...

Send us Fan Mail Wall Street Dummy’ s are shrewd investors who realize that Wall Street’s jibber jabber generates more money for Wall Street than Main Street. They view the moniker DUMMY as a badge of honor and a put down of the Wall Street elite. In this episode I introduce my Dummies Half Time Reports that help them navigate Mr. Market’s periodic hissy fits.   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Seventy three percent of all American workers now have access to a 401(k) plan. The total value of these plans is $10 trillion. The only investment options plan participants have are mutual funds select by a broker hired by their employer. The Supreme Court of the US has ruled that the funds selected by the broker must be in the best interest of the employee, not the broker. Failu...

Send us Fan Mail Remember when you were a kid and you did something stupid. You told your mom, “Everybody’s doing it.” She replied, “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do the same?” Every week, the financial media tells investors, this is what Buffett is doing. You need to do the same thing!! If you want to know what Buffett really thinks individual investors should do, listen to t...

Send us Fan Mail The media is all the buzz about the so called magnificent 7. The magnificent seven are the biggest and most successful tech companies in the world: Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. Because of their size they have a disproportionate influences over the market indexes. This has caused the Wall Street’ media lackies to hyperventilate over the possible tha...

Send us Fan Mail For the first 200 years of its existence, the New York Stock Exchange operated as a virtual monopoly. Then in 2007, the SEC decided that the NYSE needed more competition, and miraculously 12 new electronic exchanges appeared. Their electronic infrastructure was a game changer. New electronic traders entered the mix and dramatically altered the markets pricing mechanism. Support th...

Send us Fan Mail There is an urban legend that Wall Street gurus hold the key to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Back in the day, that may have been true. But the insight and efforts of Joe Ricketts and Jack Bogle have democratized the investment process so that today 70 million individual investors are able to outperform the pros on a regular basis. Support the show