🧪 The VIP Retirement Income Lab

On May 8, 1945, World War II ended in Europe as V-E Day dawned. Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Celebrations spilled joyously into the streets across Europe and North America as Victory in Europe Day—V-E Day—marked the official end of World War II on the continent. To understand the profound significance of th...

In this episode, I spoke with Mark Mustian, author of the recently released book Boy With Wings. What does it mean to be different? From Mark Mustian, founder of the Word of South Festival of Literature and Music and award-winning author of the international bestseller “The Gendarme,” comes the new Southern gothic novel, “Boy With Wings” (March 15, 2025, Koehler Books). About the book: Johnny Crue...

On April 30, 1975, Saigon fell, marking the end of American involvement in Vietnam. Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. The world watched as helicopters evacuated the last remaining Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, marking the end of the Vietnam War and the fall of South Vietnam's capital to communist fo...

On April 25, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published their groundbreaking discovery of DNA's double-helix structure in the scientific journal Nature. Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. A pivotal moment in history, Watson and Crick unlocked the secrets of genetic coding, marking the dawn of modern molecular...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 launched from Cape Kennedy on what was intended to be NASA’s third mission to land humans on the Moon. The spacecraft carried astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert, and spirits were high as mission control prepared for another successfu...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On April 3, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act, better known as the Marshall Plan, into law. Following World War II, Europe’s economies were left in ruins—a devastated infrastructure, widespread poverty, and rampant inflation painted a bleak picture...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On March 28, 1979, the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania experienced a partial meltdown in Reactor 2, marking the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear energy history. Located near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the facility was considered an emblem of...

In this episode, I talk with Author, Speaker, Air Force Veteran and WWII Historian Mark Vlahose. Growing up in Virginia, Mark’s love of history was forged in the very places where it came alive. As a young teenager, he visited Colonial Williamsburg, captivated by the Colonial militia and the rhythmic snap of the Williamsburg fife and drum corps. At just 18, he purchased his first musket, igniting...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On March 17, 461 CE, St. Patrick died peacefully in County Down, Ireland. The death of Ireland’s patron saint ended a life that had profoundly shaped the culture and identity of the Irish people. Born in Roman Britain, Patrick was kidnapped as a teenager and sold into slavery in...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On March 15, 44 BCE, Julius Caesar, the ruler of Rome, died at the hands of Roman senators. Having declared himself "dictator for life," Caesar wielded immense power but had unknowingly sown distrust among the Senate and former supporters who feared he sought to dismantle the Re...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On March 3, 1931 The Star-Spangled Banner Becomes the U.S. National Anthem. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was born during a time of immense uncertainty for a young United States. In the early morning hours of September 14, 1814, lawyer and occasional poet Francis Scott Key watched...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On February 29 (Leap Day), 1504, Christopher Columbus used a lunar eclipse to manipulate Jamaican natives into providing supplies. During his fourth and final voyage to the New World (1502–1504), Christopher Columbus and his crew found themselves stranded on the northern coast o...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On February 22, 1980, the U.S. hockey team defeated the Soviet Union in the "Miracle on Ice" at the Winter Olympics. The "Miracle on Ice" was a historic game during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, where the underdog U.S. men’s hockey team defeated the heavily...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On February 16, 1923, Archaeologist Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, revealing treasures that had been hidden for over 3,000 years. Pharaoh Tutankhamun, often called the “Boy King,” was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18...

In this episode we are talking Fantasy Football with JJ Zachariason. JJ wrote an e-book called The Late-Round Quarterback in 2012. And it changed his life. That document led him to a job at numberFire, where he helped build the site’s content business from the ground up. numberFire was later bought by FanDuel in 2015, and he went on to spend years as the company’s Editor-In-Chief. There, he develo...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On February 4th, 1789, George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States. The United States held its inaugural presidential election, culminating in the unanimous selection of George Washington by the Electoral College. The College, comprising...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On January 30th, 1969 The Beatles' perform their rooftop concert, their final public performance. The Beatles, formed in Liverpool in 1960, began as a skiffle band featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and later, Ringo Starr. Their early performances in clubs l...

On January 26, 1926, John Logie Baird demonstrated the first working television system in London. Taking place in his laboratory at 22 Frith Street, Soho, Baird’s demonstration marked the first time moving images were successfully transmitted and displayed in real-time. Baird's system was mechanical, based on the Nipkow disk, a spinning disk with a series of holes arranged in a spiral pattern. Thi...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On January 7th, 1943, Nikola Tesla, inventor and engineer, died in New York City. Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, engineer, and futurist whose groundbreaking work laid the foundation for modern electrical systems and technologies. Born on July 10, 1856,...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On January 6, 1412, Jehannette de Romee, later known as Joan of Arc, was born. Known as the "Maid of Orléans," Jehannette de Romee was a French peasant girl who became a French national heroine and saint. Born in Domrémy, Jehannette grew up with her tenant farmer father Jacques,...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. In this episode, we talk with Doron Keidar is a speaker, a warrior, and an advocate for Israel. He is the host of the aptly named Doron Keidar Podcast and currently at work on the I AM ISRAEL project exploring the most special place on earth to him— the heart of Jerusalem... Mou...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On December 19, 1843, Charles Dickens' classic tale of the past, present, and future, A Christmas Carol, was first published. Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in the autumn of 1843 during a time of financial stress and social concern. Deeply moved by the struggles of the poor and...

On December 11th, 2008, Bernard Madoff was arrested for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, involving billions of dollars and spanning decades. Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Bernard Madoff, a former chairman of NASDAQ, founded Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1960. The firm was r...

Thanks for reading History Lessons for the Modern Investor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor led the U.S. to enter World War II. The Japanese attack was preceded by years of escalating tensions between Japan and the United States, driven by Japan's imperial expansion in Asia and U.S. efforts to counter it. Japan’s...

History Lessons Podcast: 🇺🇸Fighting Back Against The Fog of War. 📚With Jeanne McKinney, author of Triumph Over the Taliban, and Retired General Gregg Sturdevant, USMC. In this episode, we talk with Jeanne McKinney, author of Triumph Over the Taliban: The Untold Story of US Marines’ Courageous Fight to Save Camp Bastion. Jeanne is an award-winning military journalist and a military documentary fil...