Money For the Rest of Us

Half of the global financial system is made up of shadow banks. You have probably already used one. What are shadow banks and what to be wary of when using them. Topics covered include: What are the roles of shadow banks What are examples of shadow banks How two shadow banks, Greensill Capital and Archegos Capital Management, contributed to billions of dollars in losses How China's massive use of...

Why productivity growth is key to creating wealth. Why U.S. productivity growth is slowing, and what we can do to increase business and personal productivity. Topics covered include: How productivity is measured and how it relates to GDP, inflation, and living standards How productivity growth has led to more food, better health, better housing, and more consumer goods. What are potential reasons...

How today's inflationary environment is similar and different from the great inflation of the 1970s. What are the best assets to protect your portfolio if the next great inflation is here. Topics covered include: How is inflation measured and why the pandemic made calculating inflation difficult What causes inflation Why is inflation increasing currently What caused the great inflation of the 1970...

Seven ways to manage fear in order to improve your investing. How fear can be beneficial. Topics covered include: Why fear can be both helpful and harmful Why expected investment returns are lower from a year ago What are the drivers of asset class returns What is a bucket approach to investing and why it can be helpful What are ways to automate investing Why getting an investment second opinion c...

How businesses, households, governments, asset managers, and investors interact in unpredictable ways to address the risks and opportunities related to climate change and other global trends. Why ESG investing goes beyond just buying an ESG fund or ETF. Topics covered include: What are incentives, constraints, opportunities, and risks faced by businesses, households, governments, asset managers, a...

What is decentralized finance and how it is seeking to solve the shortcomings of centralized finance. How BlockFi and MakerDAO, early entrants in the DeFi space work. How to earn up to a 9% yield with cryptocurrency lending. Topics covered include: How centralized finance differs from decentralized finance (DeFi) What are the shortcomings of centralized finance and why decentralized finance is mor...

With a ballooning U.S. federal budget deficit, a growing national debt, and double digit increases in the money supply, is it time to bet against the dollar? Topics covered include: What is driving the double digit increases in U.S. home prices Why hasn't inflation spiked in line with rising home prices What is the velocity of money and why is it falling What are three schools of thought regarding...

With interest rates rising does it still make sense to own bonds? Yes. This episode explores the role of bonds including why they are more effective at hedging stock losses than protective put options. Topics covered include: David's business and investment philosophy How bond funds have performed in 2021 Three disparate views on the direction of interest rates from Capital Economics, Ray Dalio, a...

There has never been this much money in the world. Now is the time to own real property. Topics covered include: How to buy something with Bitcoin How cryptocurrencies are similar and different from fiat currencies What is legal tender Why there has never been this much money in the world Why central banks can control interest rates but not inflation What real property should investors own Thanks...

How do non-fungible tokens work, what are the risks, and how do NFTs fit within the landscape of investments. Topics covered include: Investing in physical art versus cryptoart How NFTs work on the ethereum blockchain How Ethereum differs from Bitcoin What is the purpose of investing and are NFTs investments How much energy do cryptocurrencies and the financial system consume What are the risks of...

How much can you earn investing in farmland and what are the risks? What are the ways to invest in farmland? Topics covered include: What determines farmland investment returns How much has U.S. farmland appreciated historically How much income does farmland investing generate Why the amount of U.S. farmland is shrinking Has another commodity supercycle started Why U.S. farmers are dependent on ex...

Why the Federal Reserve had to step in again to sop runs on money market mutual funds and keep the financial system from imploding. Topics covered include: What are the differences between shocks and vulnerabilities What are the four main vulnerabilities the Federal Reserve monitors How deleveraging and demands for liquidity lead to market stresses What are the types of money market funds and how...

When should you protect against rare, but extreme events? When should you self-insure? Under what circumstance should you sell tail risk protection to others? Topics covered include: How tail events differ from tail risk Why volatility is not the best measure of risk for individuals What does it cost to protect against large stock market losses Why younger investors can take more risk due to their...

How to structure employment so workers are more creative, productive, and happier. Topics include: What percentage of employees work at home due to the pandemic How many hours per week do men and women work in both paid employment and unpaid caregiving How workers have been allocating the time saved by not commuting Why the economy would still prosper if we worked only four hours per day What is t...

Why has silver jumped to its highest price in eight years. What you need to know to invest in silver. Topics covered include: What drove the huge spike in silver purchases How silver differs from meme stocks How hedge funds are positioned with regard to silver What are three ways to invest in silver What is the annual demand and supply for silver What are the reasons to own silver How good has sil...

How coordinated buying by retail investors has turned the table on Wall Street. Are there signs of a market bubble? Topic covered include: What are meme stocks Why GameStop's stock (GME) has soared to over $300 from $17 in less than a month What are short squeezes and gamma squeezes and how they can push up a stock price How short-sellers including hedge funds are losing big against individual inv...

Most global stock ETFs, funds and indices have only about 5% invested in China even though China has the second-largest economy in the world. What are the pros and cons of increasing your allocation to Chinese stocks. Topics covered include: Why has China's economy rebounded faster than other countries What are Chinese A-share stocks How large are China's economy and stock market What are four thr...

Should the U.S. cancel $10,000 or more of student loan debt per borrower? What would be the economic and financial impact? Why the student loan system is broken and how to fix it. Topics covered include: How large and what is the growth rate of U.S. student loan balances What are the projections for student loan losses What are the pros and cons of forgiving student loans What would be the impact...

How should individuals invest and spend in retirement with interest rates so low, stock valuations high, and inflation uncertain. Why retirement managed payout funds and income replacement funds failed. Topics covered include: How managed payout and income replacement funds compare to immediate annuities Why Vanguard and Fidelity changed the objective of their retiree focused income replacement an...

How convertible bonds work, why they gained 50% in 2020 and outperformed stocks over the past five years. Why Vanguard shut down their convertible bond mutual funds. Topics discussed include: How big is the convertible bond market Why companies issue convertible bonds How convertible bonds work and how to analyze them Why convertible bonds have performed so well What is a reasonable expected retur...

A review of how the pandemic, financial markets, and government policy evolved in 2020 to make for an unforgettable year. Topics covered include: Why the Covid-19 pandemic ranks as the second worst in modern history What is the difference between risk and uncertainty and how our investing should be different when dealing with uncertainty What portfolio changes did David make in 2020 and how should...

How the drive for efficiency leads to greater wealth concentration and threatens capitalism. What can be done about it. Topics covered include: Why income growth has slowed for the middle class Why the economy now follows a power-law distribution rather than a normal distribution, leading to skewed outcomes Why the economy is a complex adaptive system rather than a machine How the type of job you...

How a nation's balance of payments impacts its currency exchange rate as evidenced by Turkey and other countries. Topics covered include: What is a nation's balance of payments, its current account, and its capital account How an individual's personal financial flows are similar to those of a country What is causing the currency crisis in Turkey and Lebanon Why gold imports have increased by 150%...

How to determine whether you should invest in a complex investment such as an actively managed ETF that uses option strategies. Topics covered include: A recent investment David made that he shouldn't have What is the volatility risk premium and how to invest in it Why there have been over 200 new ETFs and ETNs launched in the U.S. in 2020 Why some ETF sponsors launch lower cost versions of ETFs t...

As we await the U.S. presidential election results, we review the results of the Trump Administration's economic policies to see if Americans are better off financially than they were four years ago. Topics covered include: Why pollsters and election models can be wrong Why the state of the economy often drives election outcomes What has been the economic impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act W...