Money For the Rest of Us

By J. David Stein

Business Investing

What's Money For the Rest of Us about?

A personal finance and investing podcast on money, how it works, how to invest it and how to live without worrying about it. J. David Stein is a former Chief Investment Strategist and money manager. For close to two decades, he has been teaching individuals and institutions how to invest and handle their finances in ways that are simple to understand. More info at moneyfortherestofus.com

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How to Invest in Startups o...

07.21.2021

The risks and opportunities of investing in startups on equity crowdfunding platforms. Topics covered include:Why do individual investors now have more access to startup investmentsWhat has been the historical performance of venture capital fundsHow most startups fail, leaving only a ...

Money For the Rest of Us episodes:

07.21.2021 How to Invest in Startups on Equity Crowdfunding Platforms The risks and opportunities of investing in startups on equity crowdfunding platforms. Topics covered include:Why do individual investors now have more access to startup investmentsWhat has been the historical performance of venture capital fundsHow most startups fail, leaving only a ...
07.14.2021 Forward and Reverse Mortgages: When To Take Them Out and When to Pay Them Off How to decide when to take out a home mortgage and whether to pay it off early. How reverse mortgages can be a helpful retirement tool. Topics covered include:Why it is more difficult to get a mortgage todayHow federal government ...
06.30.2021 Listener Q&A: Individual stocks, housing bubble, crypto, retirement and more We answer over a dozen questions from listeners on investing, housing, retirement, business, podcast production, and more. Topics discussed include:The Endowment ModelTeaching children about investing4 influential investing booksThe difference between being an entrepreneur and investingThe balance between too much and ...
06.23.2021 Should You Invest in Frontier Markets? What are the risks and opportunities of investing in frontier equity markets? Topics covered include:What are the criteria used to determine whether a country's stock market is considered a frontier, emerging, or developed marketWhy some countries aren't included in any ...
06.09.2021 Should You Buy an Electric Car or Truck? What are the pros and cons of owning an electric vehicle (EV) compared with an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. Are electric vehicles worth it? Topics covered include:What is the total energy consumption for EVs versus ICE vehicles including energy ...
06.02.2021 Investing In Water What are ways to invest in water and is it an attractive investment? Topics covered include:How water rights work and how they have been overallocated in the Colorado River basin.Why agriculture uses the vast majority of water in the southwestern ...
05.26.2021 Why Should You Care About Shadow Banking? 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 banksWhat ...
05.19.2021 Why The Productivity Slowdown Could Lead to Lower Living Standards 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 ...
05.12.2021 Is Another Great Inflation Coming? Best Inflation Hedges 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 ...
05.05.2021 How To Overcome Investing Fears 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 harmfulWhy expected investment returns are lower from a year agoWhat are the drivers of asset ...
04.28.2021 Climate Change, ESG, and What Should Investors Do? 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 ...
04.21.2021 How to Make Money With Dai, BlockFi and the Evolving DeFi Ecosystem 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 ...
04.14.2021 Inflation, the National Debt and the U.S. Dollar - What Could Go Wrong? 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 pricesWhy ...
03.31.2021 Why in the World Do You Own Bonds? 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 ...
03.24.2021 Own What Is Real 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 BitcoinHow cryptocurrencies are similar and different from fiat currenciesWhat is legal tenderWhy there has never ...
03.17.2021 Are Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) Good Investments? 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 cryptoartHow NFTs work on the ethereum blockchainHow Ethereum differs from BitcoinWhat is the purpose ...
03.10.2021 Should You Invest in Farmland? 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 returnsHow much has U.S. farmland appreciated historicallyHow much income does farmland investing generateWhy ...
03.03.2021 How The Covid Shock Nearly Destroyed The Financial System 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 vulnerabilitiesWhat are the four main vulnerabilities the ...
02.24.2021 What Is Tail Risk and Are You Taking Too Much Of It? 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 riskWhy volatility is not the best measure of ...
02.10.2021 Why Do We Work So Much? How to structure employment so workers are more creative, productive, and happier. Topics include:What percentage of employees work at home due to the pandemicHow many hours per week do men and women work in both paid employment and unpaid caregivingHow ...
02.03.2021 Is Silver the Next GameStop? How to Invest in Silver 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 purchasesHow silver differs from meme stocksHow hedge funds are positioned with ...
01.27.2021 Meme Stocks, GameStop, Short Squeezes, and Bubbles 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 stocksWhy GameStop's stock (GME) has soared to over $300 from $17 in less than a ...
01.20.2021 Are You Underweight Chinese Stocks? Pros and Cons of Investing in China 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 ...
01.13.2021 Is Student Loan Forgiveness A Good Idea? 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 ...
01.06.2021 The New Math of Retirement Spending and Investing 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 ...
12.16.2020 Convertible Bonds : The High Return Asset Class That Vanguard Abandoned 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 marketWhy companies issue convertible bondsHow ...
12.09.2020 2020 - The Year We Will Never Forget 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 historyWhat is the difference between risk and ...
12.02.2020 The Economy Is Not a Machine 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 classWhy the economy now follows a power-law distribution rather than a ...
11.18.2020 Why Currency Exchange Rates Matter 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 accountHow an individual's personal financial flows are ...
11.11.2020 How To Analyze Complex Investments 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 haveWhat is the volatility risk premium and how to ...
11.04.2020 Somebody Won the Election. Now What? 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 ...
10.28.2020 Here Come Central Bank Digital Currencies How central bank digital currencies would work, what is the motivation to create them and what are the risks. Topics covered include:What percentage of central banks are working on a digital currency and plan to issue one soonWhat are the ...
10.21.2020 What Are SPACs and Should You Invest in Them? How special purpose acquisition companies work, what their performance has been and what are the ways to invest. Topics covered include:How much money has been raised in SPAC initial public offerings and who are some of the better known sponsorsWhat ...
10.14.2020 How to Buy in a Hot Housing Market U.S. home prices are on fire and sales are skyrocketing. Here are 8 rules of thumb for buying a house in a hot housing market when there are multiple bidders over the asking price. Topics covered include:What are the latest ...
10.07.2020 Vacation Special: A Discussion with David's Former Investment Firm This episode is an interview that Fund Evaluation Group LLC held with David as part of their FEG Insight Bridge podcast series. Topics covered include:What David did and learned at FEGWhat goes into making the Money For the Rest of ...
09.30.2020 Paper, Rocks or Digits: What Makes the Best Money? What are the elements of a successful monetary system. Topics covered include:The stone currency of YapThe fiat currency of ancient ChinaWhy money requires trust, accounting and tokensWhy too much money can lead to inflation and too little to deflationWhy the ...
09.23.2020 Are We Being Forced to Buy Stocks How ultra-low interest rates support higher stock market valuations but also make the investment environment more challenging. Is there a stock market bubble? Topics covered include:How expensive are stocks on an absolute basis and relative to bondsWhat are examples of ...
09.16.2020 How to Not Have a Lost Decade What are four principles individuals can follow to achieve their financial and career goals this decade despite the rough start in 2020.Why we have to be willing to share our journey with others so that they are vested in our ...
09.09.2020 No One Is Entirely A Buy and Hold Investor What are the numerous decisions individuals have to make in managing their investments portfolios. Topics covered include:Why individual investors in order to build and preserve wealth should invest like family offices and university endowmentsWhy even buy and hold investors make ...
09.02.2020 What the Federal Reserve's New Policies Mean For Your Finances The Federal Reserve just updated its policy tools. What impact could that have on inflation, interest rates and your investments. Topics covered include:Why is the Federal Reserve more transparent in its communication than it used to be.What are the Federal ...
08.26.2020 Did ETFs Pass the 2020 Market Collapse Stress Test? How did ETFs function during the 2020 market sell-off and did the indexing bubble burst? What ETF structures failed the stress test and which passed.Why were some investors, like Michael Burry, concerned about an indexing bubbleWhat are ETF risks such ...
08.19.2020 Why the Stock Market and Economy Are Rebounding So Quickly How the current global recession differs from the Great Financial Crisis and why the recession is probably over. Topics covered include:Why the current recession has no debt and banking crisisWhy lower-income workers are disproportionally harmed by the current recessionHow the ...
08.12.2020 Investments to Fight Financial Repression What are some investments that can generate a cash yield greater than inflation in an era when central bank policies keep government bond yields lower than the inflation rate. Topics covered include:How low are interest rates around the worldWhat have ...
08.05.2020 Coins and Cash: Shortages, Hoardings, and Threats What is the cause of the current U.S. coin shortage and when have there been other shortages. Why is there a push to get rid of both the penny and the hundred dollar bill. Topics covered include:How many coins does ...
07.29.2020 Income Share Agreements - Good For Students or Investors? What are the pros and cons of income share agreements for partially funding higher education. Are investing in ISA's a viable opportunity? Topics covered include:How do income share agreements (ISAs) differ from student loans for funding higher education costs.Are ISA's ...
07.22.2020 Three Approaches to Asset Allocation What are the three primary ways to allocate assets and build a portfolio when saving for retirement or living in retirement. Topics covered include:How saving for retirement and living in retirement differ.What are the expected return and risk of the ...
07.15.2020 Are Banks Safe? Is a bank collapse coming due to bank exposure to collateralized loan obligations as defaults increase? Topics covered include:What are collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), how are they structured, and what has been their historical default rates.How much exposure do banks ...
07.01.2020 A 15% Guaranteed Return? Lending on the Fringes of Finance An analysis of the returns and risks of different lending platform options including asset-based lending, unsecured peer-to-peer lending, cryptocurrency lending and a cash advance company that promises to pay a 15% annual percentage yield. Topics covered include:U-haul Investors Club and ...
06.24.2020 How to Do Financial Planning Why individuals should use a more agile approach to investing and financial planning. Topics covered include:How to incorporate low probability catastrophic events in your financial plans.How traditional financial planning differs from agile financial planning.Why we need to test-drive our financial ...
06.17.2020 Investing Is Not Knowing How successful investing requires judgment and humility not accurate forecasting ability. Topics covered include:Why pretending to know when you don't is harmful.Why true experts admit their limitations.Why David recently increased his allocation to stocks in his portfolio.How the number of ...

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