All Things Investing

Most beginner investing guides ask you one question: how much risk are you comfortable with? But that’s only half the picture — and building a portfolio on half the picture is how investors end up panic selling at exactly the wrong moment.

In this episode, we break down the distinction that changes everything about how you approach investing: risk tolerance and risk capacity are not the same thing. Confusing them is one of the most expensive mistakes a beginner can make — and almost nobody talks about it clearly.

Risk tolerance is emotional. It’s how much volatility you can stomach without making impulsive decisions. Risk capacity is financial. It’s how much loss your actual life situation can absorb without derailing your goals. These two numbers are almost never equal. And when they conflict — capacity always wins.

Here’s what that looks like in practice. An investor with high risk tolerance and low risk capacity — maybe they love the thrill of market swings but have a mortgage payment due in 18 months and no emergency fund — must invest conservatively, regardless of how they feel about risk. Their financial reality overrules their emotional appetite. Conversely, an investor with low risk tolerance and high capacity — nervous about market moves but debt-free with a 30-year horizon and a stable income — can afford to invest more aggressively than their emotions suggest. Their financial position gives them room their feelings don’t.

We also tackle the overestimation trap: in bull markets, almost everyone thinks they can handle a 30% portfolio drop. Until it actually happens. The Fidelity 30% stress test is simple — if your portfolio dropped 30% tomorrow, what would you actually do? That honest answer reveals your real risk tolerance more accurately than any questionnaire.

What we cover:

• Risk tolerance vs risk capacity — the distinction that most guides miss entirely
• The two investor scenarios that make the difference immediately clear
• The overestimation trap — why bull markets make everyone think they’re braver than they are
• The Fidelity 30% stress test — the most honest way to assess your real tolerance
• The three life factors that determine your capacity: time horizon, income stability, and obligations
• The two-axis framework — capacity sets the ceiling, tolerance sets the floor
• The practical three-step framework for building a portfolio that respects both

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.

Here's a number that should make every US investor pause: international stocks represent roughly 40% of global market capitalization. Yet the average American investor holds less than 10% internationally. That gap — between what's available in global markets and what most beginners actually own — is called home bias. And it's quietly costing investors diversification they don't even realize they're missing.

In this episode, we give you the honest, practical beginner's guide to international investing — what it is, why it matters, how to access it simply, and the one concept most guides skip that every international investor needs to understand before they start.

The good news is that implementing international diversification is far simpler than most beginners expect. One ETF — VXUS from Vanguard — covers over 7,500 companies across 49 countries at just 0.07% in annual fees. Add it alongside your US index fund at 20-30% of your total equity allocation, and you've covered the entire investable world in two funds. That's the beginner implementation in a single sentence.

We also cover why 2026 makes international diversification especially compelling: while the S&P 500 has been heavily concentrated in a handful of US mega-cap technology names, many international markets are offering different valuations and return profiles that don't move in lockstep with US tech. Diversification works precisely because different markets move differently — and right now, the correlation between US and international markets is creating genuine opportunity for investors willing to look beyond their home market.

We tackle currency risk — the concept most beginner international investing guides skip entirely — explaining the hedged vs unhedged ETF distinction in plain terms. And we break down the three geographic buckets every beginner should understand: developed markets for stability, emerging markets for growth potential, and why most beginners only need the first two to get started.

What we cover:

• The home bias problem — why most US investors hold 10x less international exposure than global market cap suggests they should
• VXUS explained — 7,500+ companies, 49 countries, 0.07% expense ratio, one ticker
• The two access routes: international ETFs vs global brokerage accounts for individual stocks
• Why 2026's US mega-cap concentration makes international diversification especially timely
• Currency risk explained simply — hedged vs unhedged ETFs and when each makes sense
• The three geographic buckets: developed markets, emerging markets, and frontier markets
• The simple two-fund beginner framework: VTI + VXUS covers the entire world

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Thanks for listening to All Things Investing – where smart money conversations are made simple.
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Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.

Most investing guides are written for employees. They assume a steady paycheck, an HR department, an automatic 401(k) deduction, and an employer matching your contributions. If you're a freelancer, none of that applies — and the standard advice falls flat fast.

In this episode, we give you the wealth-building guide written specifically for the self-employed. The one that accounts for irregular income, self-employment taxes, no employer match, and the unique tax advantages that most freelancers never discover — advantages that actually make the self-employed better positioned to build wealth than traditional employees, once you know how to use them.

Here's the number that should reframe everything: in 2026, a self-employed person can legally shelter up to $96,250 from taxes using just three accounts — the Solo 401(k), the HSA, and the Backdoor Roth IRA. Compare that to the roughly $32,000 an employee can shelter in the same accounts. The tax system doesn't just accommodate freelancers — it actively rewards them. Most freelancers just don't know it yet.

We build the freelancer investment trinity from the ground up: Solo 401(k) contributions up to $72,000 total in 2026 (which simultaneously reduces your self-employment tax exposure), HSA at $4,400 with its triple tax advantage, and Backdoor Roth IRA at $7,500 for tax-free retirement growth. Then we cover the irregular income strategies that make consistent wealth-building possible — the fixed percentage rule, the 90-day cash buffer, and why quarterly contributions work better than monthly for most freelancers.

We also tackle the most important mindset question in freelancer investing: when does investing in yourself come before investing in markets? The math is striking — $10,000 in skills that raise your rates by $25 an hour generates $26,000 in additional annual income. That's a 1,040% ROI that no index fund can match.

What we cover:

• The $96,250 freelancer tax shelter — why the self-employed have better wealth-building tools than employees
• The freelancer investment trinity: Solo 401(k), HSA, Backdoor Roth IRA in the right order
• The self-employment tax trap — and how Solo 401(k) contributions reduce it
• Irregular income strategies: fixed percentage rule, 90-day buffer, quarterly contributions
• When investing in yourself beats investing in markets — the 1,040% ROI comparison
• The freelancer wealth-building sequence from emergency fund to taxable brokerage

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Thanks for listening to All Things Investing – where smart money conversations are made simple.
📈 Loved today’s episode? Be sure to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcast platform.
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Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.

What if you could guarantee that a specific amount of money hits your bank account every single month for the rest of your life — no matter how long you live, no matter what the stock market does, no matter what happens to interest rates?

That guarantee exists. It's called a lifetime income annuity. And it's the only financial product in existence that can make that promise with contractual certainty. No index fund, no dividend stock, no savings account can guarantee you will not outlive your money. A properly structured annuity can.

In this episode, we give you the honest, balanced beginner's guide to annuities and guaranteed income streams in retirement. Not the sales pitch version. Not the "annuities are always a scam" dismissal you see in some corners of personal finance. The real version — what they are, how they work, when they make sense, and the questions you must ask before signing anything.

The timing matters in 2026. Higher interest rates have made annuities significantly more attractive than they were in the near-zero rate environment of 2020-2022. Five-year fixed annuity contracts are currently offering rates as high as 6.30% — stronger guarantees and more competitive income payments than most retirees have seen in years. That doesn't make annuities right for everyone. But it does make 2026 a strategically interesting time to understand them.

We also tackle the fees and traps honestly: surrender charges that can lock your money up for 7-10 years, income rider fees of 0.5-1.5% annually, and the inflation risk of fixed payments losing purchasing power over decades. Annuities have a reputation for being oversold at retirement seminars — and for good reason. This episode gives you the knowledge to protect yourself.

What we cover:

• Why a lifetime income annuity is the only product that contractually guarantees you won't outlive your money
• The four main annuity types explained simply: Fixed, Fixed Indexed, Variable, and Immediate
• Why 2026's interest rate environment makes annuities more attractive than they've been in years
• The guaranteed income floor concept — covering essential expenses so your investments can grow without pressure
• The fees and traps: surrender charges, income rider costs, and inflation risk
• The questions you must ask before signing any annuity contract
• The ideal annuity candidate — who should and shouldn't consider this product

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Thanks for listening to All Things Investing – where smart money conversations are made simple.
📈 Loved today’s episode? Be sure to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcast platform.
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Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.

Growth investing sounds simple — buy companies that are growing faster than the market and watch your wealth build. But most beginners make the same costly mistakes before they ever discover what growth investing actually means, how to implement it properly, and why the fund that grew most last year is statistically likely to be next year's underperformer.

In this episode, we give you the beginner's blueprint for growth investing success — the philosophy, the vehicles, the framework, and the traps — in plain, actionable language you can implement this week.

We start with the distinction most beginners never learn: growth investing is not the same as investing in growth stocks. It's a philosophy — buying companies or funds expected to grow faster than the market average — and in 2026 it can be implemented passively through low-cost ETFs without picking a single stock. BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is leaning into AI, growth, and large-cap exposures as their primary investment direction for Spring 2026. When BlackRock signals that lean, it's worth understanding why.

We break down the two main growth ETF vehicles every beginner should know: VUG (Vanguard Growth ETF) offering broad US large-cap growth exposure at just 0.04%, and QQQ (Invesco Nasdaq-100 ETF) with heavier technology concentration and potentially higher — but more volatile — returns. Then we show you how to use the core-satellite framework to add growth exposure intelligently: 70-80% broad market index as your foundation, 20-30% growth satellite positions that capture upside without gambling your entire portfolio on a single theme.

And we tackle the trap that catches most growth investors: the 1% fee difference that costs $100,000 on a $300,000 portfolio over 30 years, and the performance-chasing instinct that consistently leads beginners to buy last year's winner just before it reverts to the mean.

What we cover:

• Growth investing vs investing in growth stocks — the distinction that changes everything
• BlackRock's 2026 lean into AI, growth, and large-cap explained for beginners
• VUG vs QQQ — two growth ETFs, two very different risk profiles
• The core-satellite framework: 70-80% broad market + 20-30% growth positions
• Why last year's top growth fund is statistically likely to underperform next year
• The $100,000 fee difference — why costs matter even more in growth portfolios
• The practical beginner blueprint: automate, diversify, and resist the chase

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Thanks for listening to All Things Investing – where smart money conversations are made simple.
📈 Loved today’s episode? Be sure to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcast platform.
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Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.

Here's the number that should make every investor uncomfortable: the most active traders underperform passive investors by 6-7% annually. Not because they pick bad stocks. Not because they have bad information. Because of behavioral biases they don't even know they have.

The enemy isn't the market. It's the decision-maker sitting in front of the screen.

In this episode, we go deep on the five most destructive behavioral biases in investing — and more importantly, we give you the practical systems to defeat them. Not willpower. Not discipline. Systems. Because the research is clear: you cannot willpower your way out of biases that are hardwired into your neurology. The only reliable solution is building structures that remove decisions from moments of emotional intensity.

The Vanguard Advisor's Alpha study found that behavioral coaching alone adds up to 2% in net returns annually. Over 30 years on a $100,000 portfolio, that 2% compounded is the difference between a comfortable retirement and a life-changing one. That's how much your own psychology is costing you right now — and how much you stand to gain by understanding it.

We cover recency bias (assuming the recent past will continue indefinitely), confirmation bias (hunting for evidence that supports what you already believe), loss aversion (feeling the pain of losses twice as strongly as the pleasure of equivalent gains), overconfidence (the humbling stat that the most active traders consistently underperform passive investors), and anchoring bias — illustrated by the Shell dividend cut that blindsided income investors who had stopped questioning a 6-7% yield that no longer reflected reality.

What we cover:

• The 6-7% annual underperformance of active traders — why behavior beats stock selection as the biggest return killer
• Vanguard's 2% behavioral coaching premium — what your psychology is actually costing you
• Recency bias: why zooming out is the only reliable fix
• Confirmation bias: why you need to find the smartest person who disagrees with you
• Loss aversion: reframing losses as the cost of admission to long-term investing
• Overconfidence: the annual index fund comparison that delivers the humbling truth
• Anchoring bias: the Shell dividend lesson every income investor needs to hear
• The one bias-defeating habit that costs nothing and changes everything

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Thanks for listening to All Things Investing – where smart money conversations are made simple.
📈 Loved today’s episode? Be sure to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcast platform.
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🔔 New episodes drop every week – don’t miss out.

Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.

Traditional investing asks which sector looks undervalued or which region offers growth. Thematic investing asks a completely different question: which forces are reshaping the world — and which companies stand to gain?

That single mindset shift is driving one of the biggest trends in modern investing. US thematic funds grew from $9.7 billion to $92.7 billion between 2014 and 2024. And in 2026, with mega-trends like AI infrastructure, energy transition, water scarcity, and asset tokenization accelerating simultaneously, thematic investing has never been more relevant — or more accessible — to everyday investors.

In this episode, we give you the honest, practical beginner's guide to thematic investing. We break down what it actually is, how to identify genuine themes versus compelling stories that don't translate into returns, the right way to size thematic positions in your portfolio, and the traps that catch most beginners before they've made their first thematic investment.

We cover the four biggest 2026 themes from BlackRock's iShares outlook — AI infrastructure, energy transition, water and agriculture, and tokenization — with concrete examples for each. We also tackle the two risks most beginner guides gloss over: concentration risk (many thematic ETFs have their top 10 holdings representing 40-60% of the fund) and theme definition drift (some "AI" ETFs include companies with only marginal AI exposure just to fill their holdings). And we use the cannabis ETF cautionary tale as the sobering reality check that a compelling story is not enough.

What we cover:

• The mindset shift that defines thematic investing vs traditional sector investing
• The BlackRock stat: $9.7bn to $92.7bn in a decade — what drove thematic fund growth
• The four biggest 2026 themes: AI, energy transition, water, and tokenization
• The core-satellite framework: why thematic positions should be 10-20%, not 100%
• Concentration risk and theme definition drift — the two traps beginners fall into
• The cannabis cautionary tale — why a great story doesn't guarantee investment returns
• Three questions to ask before buying any thematic ETF

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Thanks for listening to All Things Investing – where smart money conversations are made simple.
📈 Loved today’s episode? Be sure to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcast platform.
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🔔 New episodes drop every week – don’t miss out.

Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.

What if your losing investments could actually save you money? Not in some complicated hedge fund strategy — but in a straightforward, IRS-approved approach that any investor with a brokerage account can use before December 31?

That's tax-loss harvesting. And in this episode, we break it down in the clearest, most practical terms possible so you can decide whether it belongs in your investing toolkit this year.

Here's the core idea: when an investment in your taxable account has declined in value, you can sell it, realize the loss for tax purposes, and use that loss to offset capital gains you've made elsewhere in your portfolio. Dollar for dollar. No complicated calculations, no accountant required for the basic version. You then reinvest in a similar — but not identical — investment to maintain your market exposure, so you stay on track toward your long-term goals while shrinking your tax bill at the same time.

The numbers make it real. An investor with $80,000 in unrealized losses who harvests them against $40,000 in capital gains realized earlier in the year can save between $6,000 and $9,500 in taxes depending on their bracket. And if your losses exceed your gains, the IRS lets you deduct up to $3,000 against your regular salary income — with any remaining losses carrying forward indefinitely to future tax years, never expiring.

But there's one critical trap that trips up most beginners: the wash sale rule. Sell an investment at a loss and buy it back within 30 days — before or after the sale — and the IRS disallows the loss entirely. We explain exactly how to avoid it and how to identify replacement securities that keep you invested without triggering it.

What we cover:

• The core mechanic: how losses offset gains dollar for dollar and reduce your tax bill
• The real-number example: $80,000 in losses saving $6,000-$9,500 in taxes
• The $3,000 ordinary income offset and the carryforward rule that never expires
• The wash sale rule: the trap that disallows your loss if you buy back too soon
• Crypto tax-loss harvesting: the current loophole the IRS is watching closely
• The December 29-30 settlement deadline — why you need to act before year-end
• The one action every investor should take before December 31

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Thanks for listening to All Things Investing – where smart money conversations are made simple.
📈 Loved today’s episode? Be sure to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcast platform.
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🔔 New episodes drop every week – don’t miss out.

Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.

What if you could earn a 6% target return on your money, have it credited to your account daily, and withdraw it anytime you need it — all with a minimum investment of just €1?

That's the promise of Go & Grow, formerly Bondora Go & Grow, and in this episode we give you the honest, balanced beginner's guide to understanding exactly what it is, how it works, and most importantly — what the risks are that the marketing doesn't always emphasize.

Go & Grow is not a savings account. It's not government protected. And as of September 2026, 27.4% of the underlying loan portfolio is in recovery — meaning nearly a third of the loans backing your investment are in various stages of debt collection. That doesn't mean you've lost that money, but it does mean understanding the platform's mechanics matters before you deposit.

In plain language, here's what Go & Grow actually does: your money is pooled with other investors and automatically spread across thousands of unsecured consumer loans in Estonia, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Latvia. Bondora — now operating as a standalone brand Go&Grow OÜ following its legal separation from Bondora Group in April 2026 — manages every loan selection, every collection process, and every allocation decision. You do nothing except deposit and watch daily returns accrue.

We also cover the brand new Go & Grow Pocket product launched in August 2026: a slightly lower 4.89% target return in exchange for up to €25,000 insurance coverage through Latvian insurer Balcia. One percentage point less return for insurance protection — is that tradeoff worth it for a beginner?

What we cover:

• What Go & Grow actually is — pooled P2P consumer lending explained simply
• The April 2026 spin-off from Bondora Group — what it means for investors
• The honest risk picture: 27.4% of loans in recovery as of September 2026
• Go & Grow Pocket: 4.89% return with €25,000 insurance — is it worth it?
• How Go & Grow compares to savings accounts, HYSAs, and other P2P platforms
• The ideal Go & Grow investor profile — who should and shouldn't use this product

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Thanks for listening to All Things Investing – where smart money conversations are made simple.
📈 Loved today’s episode? Be sure to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcast platform.
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🔔 New episodes drop every week – don’t miss out.

Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.

Most retirement investors spend decades focused on growing their portfolio — and almost no time thinking about the one risk that could undo everything in the first few years of retirement. It's called sequence of returns risk, and it may be the most important concept in retirement planning that most people have never heard of.

Here's the scenario that makes it real. Two retirees both start with $1 million and use a 4% withdrawal rate. One faces a 25% market crash in year one of retirement. The other faces the exact same crash a decade later. The difference in how their portfolios end up is shocking — not because the crash was bigger, but because of when it happened. That's sequence risk. The order and timing of returns matters enormously when you're withdrawing from a portfolio, not just the average return over time.

Wade Pfau's landmark research puts a number on exactly how much it matters: the compounded return in the first 10 years of retirement explains roughly 77% of the final retirement outcome. Not the overall average return across 30 years — just the first 10. That single stat should reshape how every investor within a decade of retirement thinks about risk.

In this episode we break down the five key strategies for protecting yourself during the retirement red zone — the 10-year window from roughly age 60 to 70 where portfolio fragility peaks. From cash and bond buffers to the bond tent strategy, the bucketing approach, guaranteed income floors, and dynamic withdrawal rules — we give you a complete master plan in plain, accessible language.

What we cover:

• The two-retiree comparison that makes sequence risk impossible to ignore
• Wade Pfau's 77% stat — why the first decade of retirement defines everything
• The retirement red zone: age 60-70 and why this is your period of maximum fragility
• Five proven strategies: cash buffer, bucketing, bond tent, income floor, dynamic withdrawals
• Why 2026's bond yields make defensive strategies more effective than they've been in years
• The action every investor within 5 years of retirement needs to take right now

All Things Investing — the podcast that breaks down the money game without the fluff.

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Support the show

Thanks for listening to All Things Investing – where smart money conversations are made simple.
📈 Loved today’s episode? Be sure to follow, rate, and review on your favorite podcast platform.
📩 Got a question or a topic you want covered? Send us a DM or email us at [email protected].
📱 Follow us for daily tips, market updates, and more.
🔔 New episodes drop every week – don’t miss out.

Remember: The best investment you can make... is in yourself.