THE FINANCIAL COMMUTE

On this episode of The Financial Commute, Chris Galeski is joined by Wealth Planner and estate attorney Brian Standing to discuss Secure Act 2.0.    For those who are 64 to 72 as of 2023, the age to start taking RMDs (required minimum distributions) will increase to 73 in 2023 and 75 in 2033. The penalty for failing to take an RMD has been reduced from 50% to 25%; if it was not intentional and is...

On today’s episode of The Financial Commute, we welcome Rajeev Das, a manager of SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies). A SPAC’s sole purpose is to facilitate a merger or a business combination between the SPAC and a privately owned enterprise to help that enterprise go public.  SPACs do this by issuing units to the public. Proceeds are placed in a trust account and invested in short-term...

On this week’s episode of The Financial Commute, host Chris Galeski welcomes Todd Williams, Chief Investment Officer at Grubb Properties. Grubb focuses on investing in multi-family real estate and has $2 billion in assets.  Bob Grubb, founder of Grubb Properties, provided not-for-profit financing to people who were affected by redlining, a discriminatory practice in which services (financial or ot...

On this week’s episode of The Financial Commute, host Chris Galeski welcomes Meghan Pinchuk, Chief Investment Officer at Morton Wealth. Meghan says she is pleased with the overall resilience of illiquid assets in the face of last year’s volatile market. For most clients, Meghan recommends having at least some part of their portfolio in illiquid assets. Financial planning may help determine which l...

On today’s episode of The Financial Commute , Chris Galeski welcomes back Jeff Sarti, CEO of Morton Wealth. They reflect on 2022, the fascinating changes this year has brought and what the future may hold. One area that has experienced major change this year has been the bond space. Bonds normally perform relatively well compared to stocks but experienced their worst year in a century in 2022 due...

On today’s episode of The Financial Commute, Chris welcomes Nik Bhatia, USC finance professor, author of Layered Money , and creator of The Bitcoin Layer , a market research newsletter. Nik’s mission is to make education about bitcoin accessible to all.  Nik says there should be more regulations and insurance mechanisms to help crypto investors safely store their assets. According to Nik, this is...

On today’s episode of The Financial Commute, host Chris Galeski welcomes Portfolio Management Analyst Hunter Daniel to discuss fixed-income securities. Hunter starts by talking about his path to Morton and how his prior experience helped him discover his interest in portfolio management. Hunter joined Morton Wealth in 2022 and plays a critical role on Morton’s research and investment teams.  Hunte...

On this week’s episode of The Financial Commute, host Chris Galeski welcomes Wealth Advisor Priscilla Brehm. They discuss important questions we should ask ourselves as the year ends: Do I feel better off now than last year? Do I feel more or less secure? Why?  Priscilla says it would be completely normal for investors to feel an increasing sense of apprehension with the volatile state of the mark...

On this episode of The Financial Commute, Chris Galeski invites Wealth Advisor Bryce Snell to discuss how the current high-interest-rate environment may give investors certain opportunities they couldn’t have had in the past 15 years due to zero-interest-rate policy.  Currently, the money market offers a 3% rate, and a six-month Treasury Bill is close to 4.5%, so there is a decently high return on...

On today’s episode of The Financial Commute, Chris Galeski invites Wealth Advisor Patrice Bening to discuss the car market, subprime auto loans, and the volatility of cryptocurrency. Patrice says because of the car chip shortage, the demand for cars has outweighed supply, thus increasing prices. As the Fed continues to hike up interest rates, some used car loans have gone up to 10% APR.  Some borr...

Host Chris Galeski welcomes Wealth Advisor Mike Rudow back to The Financial Commute for an episode about cryptocurrency. Having a zero-interest-rate policy since 2009 has created asset bubbles in places like cryptocurrency. Crypto is often considered an “alternative investment,” but Chris and Mike disagree. Alternatives are uncorrelated assets that have true potential and backing, like healthcare...

Today, Chris invites Wealth Advisor Bruce Tyson to The Financial Commute. Bruce brings over 40 years of experience in the financial services industry. He says many investors are fearful because the stock and bond market dropped significantly this year and are under the impression that it will only worsen; however, Bruce thinks the markets will inevitably recover like every other economic downturn...

  Wealth Advisor Jon Wingent returns to The Financial Commute to discuss the recent reshuffling of UK prime ministers as well as the British economy and politics.  Liz Truss’s proposed unfunded tax cuts caused people to worry that the government would lose huge amounts of tax revenue, which would result in borrowing and thereby heighten interest rates. Therefore, the bond markets dropped and cause...

On today’s episode of The Financial Commute , Chris Galeski is joined by David Sifford, Managing Director of Social Infrastructure at Ecofin. Ecofin is a sustainable investment firm that unites ecology and finance; they invest in education, climate impact, healthcare, senior living, waste transition, and other sustainable/social incentives.  David says many of the fields they invest in can be diff...

On today’s episode of The Financial Commute , Chris Galeski is joined by Jon Wingent, Wealth Advisor at Morton Wealth. They discuss the natural home-country bias and why investing in international companies is crucial for diversification.  Because of mere exposure, investors from the UK may be more inclined to invest in UK companies because they are familiar with their products. However, Wingent s...

On today’s episode of The Financial Commute , Chris Galeski welcomes Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Morton Wealth, Stacey McKinnon. Stacey and Chris discuss their shared passion for financial planning and giving clients the confidence to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. However, Stacey has noticed that many people are hesitant to create financial p...

On today’s episode of The Financial Commute , Chris Galeski is joined by Sasan Faiz, Managing Director of Investments at Morton Wealth. They discuss the importance of investing in international companies and being aware of the home-country bias many investors may have. The years from 2000–2010 are commonly referred to as the “lost decade” for U.S. stocks, where the S&P 500 lost over 9% for an...

Host Chris Galeski is joined by the CEO of Morton Wealth, Jeff Sarti, to demystify alternative investments. Jeff discusses the law of familiarity, which suggests being exposed to something frequently may breed comfort. Because stocks and bonds occupy most of the conversation when it comes to investing, people tend to be more comfortable with traditional investments and may not question them as muc...

“People should understand how a recession is going to impact them personally: Is your job at risk? What is a high-inflation environment going to do to your expenditures? How is your commute to work? Can you carpool? Plan accordingly.” — Mike Rudow, Wealth Advisor Welcome to The Financial Commute , where Wealth Advisor Chris Galeski gives you the rundown on what’s going on in the financial world, h...