The Mind Money Spectrum Podcast

In this episode, Aaron and Trishul discuss Safe Withdrawal Rate research, focusing on "Sequence of Returns Risk"; how the returns in the first few years of withdrawals after retirement disproportionately affect the rest of your life. Given this importance, how do you balance short and long-term goals when taking current withdrawals that need to last your lifetime? By understanding spendi...

In this episode, Aaron and Trishul explore the active vs. passive debate. The academic research is pretty clear that US Large Cap active managers don't outperform their benchmarks on average. But what does that even mean? And what about Warren Buffet? And what about different asset classes? And taxes? They go into index and ETF construction to help you understand where the issues may lie. In...

 In this episode, Aaron and Trishul discuss market timing. Not necessarily for trying to identify highs and lows, but rather after you have saved up some money and chosen an ideal investment, WHEN do you put the money to work? This decision is rife with emotional ramifications and you may be 'damned' either way. They explain why goals and risk tolerance are an important part of timing yo...

In this episode, Aaron and Trishul discuss the final domain of well-being; health. Both physical and mental. They try to distinguish between the two aspects before agreeing that they are probably too interrelated for a distinction to be made. When choosing activities to better your physical health, you may be helping your mental health without even realizing it. It is normal to go through ebbs and...

In this episode, Aaron and Trishul discuss stress and its role in the difference between happiness and well-being. There can be times where stress reduces happiness, but actually improves well-being and life satisfaction. They explore some of the ways money and work impact stress. In general, there's probably too much stress among the population, but too little stress can sap the motivation t...

In this episode, Trishul and Aaron explore the impact of friends, family, and communities on happiness and well-being. This is a universal component of humanity, that provides sources of happiness regardless of economics. But it isn't enough to wait for opportunities to come up, you need to put in the effort to make it happen. They discuss how even though technology and social media can make...

In this episode, Aaron and Trishul try to distinguish between happiness and well-being. They explore situations where clients had achieved their goals and attained their personal definition of success, but still felt worried or concerned. If angst is ever-present and can't be resolved through rational decisions, but rather through emotional introspection, do you actually need to achieve your...

In this episode, Trishul and Aaron take a deep dive into the 4% rule and how it applies to FIRE. They discuss the inputs and analysis that went into the academic safe withdrawal rate research and that if you understand these inputs, you can start to make adjustments to your personal situation. The 4% rule was never designed to be a Holy Grail of retirement research, but rather a rule of thumb that...

In this episode, Trishul and Aaron explore some of their personal philosophies when it comes to money and happiness. They share specific examples of how they have made intentional life decisions with their happiness in mind. Some are big, bold pursuits, while others are smaller illustrations of their individual values. In the end, it's the little things and the non-monetary goals they chose t...

In this episode, Aaron and Trishul explore the adage "money doesn't buy happiness" because academic research indicates that sometimes it does, but not in the way you think. We discuss short-term gratification versus long-term well-being. We explain what amputees, lottery winners, and marshmallows have in common. Wealth in itself may not impact happiness, but how it is earned and how...

In this episode, Trishul and Aaron explore investing as a hobby. Trishul, the former hedge fund manager, calls it the world's most expensive hobby, while Aaron, the financial planner, can see why some people have fun with it. As long as you aren't risking money needed for long-term goals. And you can stomach the losses. And understand the opportunity cost.  In the end, maybe most people...

In this episode, Aaron and Trishul explore the FIRE movement. Financial Independence, Retire Early. We discuss Lean FIRE and Fat FIRE and go back and forth on how important savings rates are for achieving future financial goals. We discuss how managing expenses is vital to accomplishing such savings rates. And finally, we discuss the idea that naming a movement may simply be an effective way to im...