Reasonably Happy with Paul Ollinger

Comedian Rocky Dale Davis grew in a trailer park in Brookwood, Alabama. His single mom worked hard to keep him fed and on the straight-and-narrow. After eight years doing comedy, Rocky is headlining all over the country and experiencing his first taste of financial success. So it’s that much more fun to watch me cringe as Rocky tells me that he tries to get rid of money as soon as it comes in and that he doesn’t have health insurance. Rocky has appeared on This week at the Comedy Cellar and Kevin Hart Presents on Comedy Central, NBC  In addition to all this, Rocky and I discuss: 

His "abusive, White trash dad"

Why he went to Mexico to get his teeth fixed.

Getting into fights at church

 Get you some more Rock here and here.  

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 About Crazy Money: Unlike traditional personal finance shows like Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, Crazy Money is not about how to make a million bucks, how to beat the market, or how to save money by switching cable providers. It is about deciding what role we want money to play in our lives and how we can use it to be our best selves. Topics covered include: Philosophy, Happiness, Contentment, Meaning, dreams, purpose, Success, Rat Race, Society, mental health, Buddhism, Stoicism, the hedonic treadmill, morality, Mid-Life Crisis, Business, Work, Careers, Authors, Books, Consumerism, Values, capitalism, economics, investing, saving, spending, personal finance, charity, philanthropy, altruism, affluence, wealth, wealth management, culture, society. Status. Iranian immigrant, Persian immigrant. Iran. Immigration Edited by Mike Carano Did you already rate and review Crazy Money? Yes? Okay, you can go now...

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Today we are going to talk about public mistakes: big, flagrant, public mistakes that might best be described as “failure” and earn the derision of the press and cost your family hundreds of millions of dollars.  Warwick Fairfax was the heir apparent to run John Fairfax, Ltd, an Australian newspaper and media conglomerate that ownedThe Sidney Morning Herald,The Agein Melbourne, and The Australian Financial Reviewand other valuable properties. In 1987, with corporate raiders lurking, Warwick took on massive leverage and launched a $2.25Billion bid to take control of the 150-year old company that had been founded by his great-great grandfather. Three years later, under Warwick’s leadership and due largely to the weight of the debt he sanctioned, the company went into receivership, bringing to an end his family’s media dynasty. In Warwick’s new book,Crucible Leadershiphe shares insights into the opulence of his youth, the pressure he felt to work in the family business, the lessons he learned when he botched things up, and — most importantly— how he survived and forgave himself.  Read more about Warwick and Crucible Leadership here.  

**Please rate and review Crazy Money here.**

Email Paul here


 About Crazy Money: Unlike traditional personal finance shows like Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, Crazy Money is not about how to make a million bucks, how to beat the market, or how to save money by switching cable providers. It is about deciding what role we want money to play in our lives and how we can use it to be our best selves. Topics covered include: Philosophy, Happiness, Contentment, Meaning, dreams, purpose, Success, Rat Race, Society, mental health, Buddhism, Stoicism, the hedonic treadmill, morality, Mid-Life Crisis, Business, Work, Careers, Authors, Books, Consumerism, Values, capitalism, economics, investing, saving, spending, personal finance, charity, philanthropy, altruism, affluence, wealth, wealth management, culture, society. Status. Iranian immigrant, Persian immigrant. Iran. Immigration Edited by Mike Carano Did you already rate and review Crazy Money? Yes? Okay, you can go now...

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Ali Partovi is an Iranian-Americanentrepreneur and angel investor. He is best known as a co-founder of Code .org, iLike, and LinkExchange. He was an early investor in Airbnb, Dropbox, Facebook, and Uber. Ali grew up in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, attended Harvard, and sold his first startup, LinkExchange, in 1998. On this episode, Ali and I discuss:

The GIANT MISTAKE he made in a meeting with Steve Jobs

The not-quite as terrible mistake he made when meeting with Jerry Yang of Yahoo!

The challenges of building a business on the Facebook platform

How being an immigrant shaped his career and worldview.

Ali is currently the CEO of Neo, a mentorship community and venture fund he established in 2017. Learn more about Ali and Neo here.  

**Please rate and review Crazy Money here.**

Email Paul here


 About Crazy Money: Unlike traditional personal finance shows like Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, Crazy Money is not about how to make a million bucks, how to beat the market, or how to save money by switching cable providers. It is about deciding what role we want money to play in our lives and how we can use it to be our best selves. Topics covered include: Philosophy, Happiness, Contentment, Meaning, dreams, purpose, Success, Rat Race, Society, mental health, Buddhism, Stoicism, the hedonic treadmill, morality, Mid-Life Crisis, Business, Work, Careers, Authors, Books, Consumerism, Values, capitalism, economics, investing, saving, spending, personal finance, charity, philanthropy, altruism, affluence, wealth, wealth management, culture, society. Status. Iranian immigrant, Persian immigrant. Iran. Immigration Edited by Mike Carano Did you already rate and review Crazy Money? Yes? Okay, you can go now...

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Today we will be discussing the enthralling HBO series, Succession and all it tells us about wealth, dysfunctional family dynasties, ambition, and greed with three great panelists, including Meredith Blake from the Los Angeles Times, Dave Lenok from WealthManagement .com, and James Andrew Miller, author of the new book Tinderbox: HBO’s Relentless Pursuit of New Frontiers.  (**Please rate and review Crazy Money here.**) In case you’ve been asleep for the past three years, here’s a brief synopsis of the show from Jim’s book:"Succession revolves around the Roy family, a thinly veiled amalgam of the Murdochs, and, well, the Murdochs. An aging patriarch named Logan—portrayed in juicily Lear-like fashion by Scottish actor Brian Cox—plays his overeager children off each other as they jockey to take over his evil media empire, Waystar Royco." If you have watched the show, you’ll love the behind the scenes insights and commentary regarding the intricacies of family business. If you haven't watched the show, today’s discussion might help you decide if it’s for you. Spoiler alert: it is. Also, there are spoilers in this conversation, so consider yourself notified.   Succession raises innumerable questions about the complexities of wealth:

Is it possible to be a billionaire and a great parent?

Does the prospect of a huge inheritance make loving your siblings more difficult?

Would you be happier if you flew sailed on yachts, flew on helicopters or rode blade on curb?

Today’s show is brought to you by Masterworks. Cut the line to invest in blue chip art today at Masterworks.io/CRAZYMONEY Please follow our panelists... Follow Jim Miller on Twitter here. Follow Meredith Blake on Twitter here. Follow David Lenok on Twitter here.  (**Please rate and review Crazy Money here.**) About Crazy Money:
Unlike traditional personal finance shows like Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, Crazy Money is not about how to make a million bucks, how to beat the market, or how to save money by switching cable providers. It is about deciding what role we want money to play in our lives and how we can use it to be our best selves. Topics covered include: Philosophy, Happiness, Contentment, Meaning, dreams, purpose, Success, Rat Race, Society, mental health, Buddhism, Stoicism, the hedonic treadmill, morality, Mid-Life Crisis, Business, Work, Careers, Authors, Books, Consumerism, Values, capitalism, economics, investing, saving, spending, personal finance, charity, philanthropy, altruism, affluence, wealth, wealth management, culture, society. Status.
Crazy Money is produced and edited by Mike Carano
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This week I speak to three distinguished guests about how money can be used to make the world a better place and how investors large and small can influence corporations to be more responsible global and local citizens.  Up first is Dr. Judith Rodin, former President of both The Rockefeller Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania where she was the first woman to permanently lead an Ivy League Institution. Judith is the author ofThe Power of Impact Investingand Making Money Moral: How a new Wave of Visionarires Is Linking Purpose and Profit, which we discuss today. Judith earned a BA from University of Pennsylvania, her PhD from Columbia and did a post-doctoral fellowship at UC-Irvine. She has also received honorary degrees from Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth and 16 other institutions. She has served on the boards of Citigroup, Comcast/NBC Universal, Young & Rubicam, the NYSE, and many other major corporations and non-profit organizations.  In addition to Dr. Rodin, I speak with Joan King Salwen, CEO of Blue Ocean Barns, producers of a cattle feed supplement that reduces cows' methane emissions by 50-80%. With over 1.5 billion cattle on earth, their product has a huge addressable market.  Also joining this week is Pieter van der Gaag who is Chair of the Dutch Pension Fund Agreement on International Responsible Investment. In this role he implements improved due diligence processes at Pension Funds in line with UN Human Rights standards and OECD Guidelines. Pieter is also Executive Director/Chair at Ecosystems Restoration Camps, a global movement of people restoring ecosystems to create an abundant earth. He and I were classmates at Rhodes College back when I had a devastatingly good head of hair.  Click here to learn more about investing in shares of blue-chip artwork with Masterworks.io  **Please rate and review Crazy Money here. E-mail Paul here. 
About Crazy Money:
Unlike traditional personal finance shows like Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, Crazy Money is not about how to make a million bucks, how to beat the market, or how to save money by switching cable providers. It is about deciding what role we want money to play in our lives and how we can use it to be our best selves. Topics covered include: Philosophy, Happiness, Contentment, Meaning, dreams, purpose, Success, Rat Race, Society, mental health, Buddhism, Stoicism, the hedonic treadmill, morality, Mid-Life Crisis, Business, Work, Careers, Authors, Books, Consumerism, Values, capitalism, economics, investing, saving, spending, personal finance, charity, philanthropy, altruism, affluence, wealth, wealth management, culture, society. Status.
Crazy Money is produced and edited by Mike Carano
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That voice in your head isn’t all bad. Sure, it sometimes tells you you’re not good enough or that Bob from Accounting is plotting to get you fired, but your inner dialog can be your friend if you take the time to get to know it. Dr. Ethan Kross is the author of Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It. A Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan and one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind, Ethan studies our internal chatter and methods we can implement to get the good stuff out of it and leave the negative stuff behind. In this most excellent conversation, Ethan and I discuss why it’s so hard to live in the present (and if that’s actually a problem), how to distinguish between rumination and obsession (Bob’s out to get me!), and how social media turns up the volume on some of the more negative aspects of chatter (damn you, Instagram!). He also shares pointers on how I can use my inner voice to improve my golf game. (Full disclosure: these actually work!) Ethan founded the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory at the University of Michigan where he teaches Psychology and Management at the Ross School of Business. His work has been featured in Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, and he has appeared on CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, and NPR’s Morning Edition. A native of Brooklyn, NY, he earned his BA at the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from Columbia. (Note: Dr. Kross is not affiliated with ‘90s hip-hop duo Kriss Kross.) Check out how you can invest in contemporary art on Masterworks.io! Please support our sponsor. Learn more about Ethan and Chatter - https://www.ethankross.com/ **Please rate and review Crazy Money here. E-mail Paul here. 
Join the Crazy Money Listeners Group here
About Crazy Money:
Unlike traditional personal finance shows like Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, Crazy Money is not about how to make a million bucks, how to beat the market, or how to save money by switching cable providers. It is about deciding what role we want money to play in our lives and how we can use it to be our best selves. Topics covered include: Philosophy, Happiness, Contentment, Meaning, dreams, purpose, Success, Rat Race, Society, mental health, Buddhism, Stoicism, the hedonic treadmill, morality, Mid-Life Crisis, Business, Work, Careers, Authors, Books, Consumerism, Values, capitalism, economics, investing, saving, spending, personal finance, charity, philanthropy, altruism, affluence, wealth, wealth management, culture, society. Status.
Crazy Money is produced and edited by Mike Carano
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Lisa Birnbach is the author of over 20 books, includingThe Official Preppy Handbook, which became a cultural phenomenon in the early 1980’s. The book sold more than a million copies, has been cited as an inspiration to the founder of J. Crew and is thought to have boosted the growth of LL Bean.  InT.O.P.H., Birnbach celebrated, skewered, and democratized the concept of preppiness with writing the The New York Times described as “affectionate but acerbic.” Upon re-visiting the book, I found her reflections on money, fashion, status, and the social hierarchy as insightful and hilarious today as they were forty years ago. In this thoroughly enjoyable interview, we talk about the preppy aesthetic, Connecticut, and how the world has (and hasn’t) changed since she launched this juggernaut into being.  Celebrated for her keen eye and sharp wit, Lisa Birnbach is an award-winning journalist, cultural commentator, and best-selling author. She has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Parade, Rolling Stone, and New Yorkmagazine. Lisa spoke to me from her home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  **Please rate and review Crazy Money here. E-mail Paul here. 
Join the Crazy Money Listeners Group here
About Crazy Money:
Unlike traditional personal finance shows like Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, Crazy Money is not about how to make a million bucks, how to beat the market, or how to save money by switching cable providers. It is about deciding what role we want money to play in our lives and how we can use it to be our best selves. Topics covered include: Philosophy, Happiness, Contentment, Meaning, dreams, purpose, Success, Rat Race, Society, mental health, Buddhism, Stoicism, the hedonic treadmill, morality, Mid-Life Crisis, Business, Work, Careers, Authors, Books, Consumerism, Values, capitalism, economics, investing, saving, spending, personal finance, charity, philanthropy, altruism, affluence, wealth, wealth management, culture, society. Status.
Crazy Money is produced and edited by Mike Carano
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What would happen if the richest neighborhood in your town declared itself its own municipality, taking with it the tax dollars of the richest 20% of citizens? That is what might happen here in Atlanta where a well-funded group is petitioning to carve the wealthy neighborhood of Buckhead (coincidentally, where I live) away from Atlanta, into its own city. This initiative has gained traction and has a very real chance of making it to the ballot in November of 2022.  Not that Buckhead residents don’t have good reason to be frustrated with local government. Our police force is diminished and demoralized, and crime is simply out-of-control. Aggravated assaults in Buckhead are up 52% this year over an already violent 2020. And at Lenox Square, a mall that is 2 miles away from my home, there have been a half-dozen shootings and many more armed robberies over the past year or so. It’s a total freaking mess.  On today’s episode, I talk to Bill White, the CEO of the Buckhead City Committee, the group behind the initiative, and to Felicia Moore who is both the President of the Atlanta City Council and a candidate on the ballot for next month’s mayoral election.  This might sound like a local news story but I think it’s relevant to all of us and relevant to the mission of this show because it’s emblematic of where we are as a society and whether or not the wealthy are better off trying to isolate themselves from our relatively less-affluent neighbors and fellow citizens.  I look forward to hearing your feedback. Please email me your thoughts.  To learn about Felicia Moore go here. To learn more about the Buckhead City Committee, go here. RATE and Review Crazy Money here.

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Educated at Brigham Young and Emory Universities, Dr. Daniel Crosby is a psychologist and behavioral finance expert who studies and writes about the intersection of financial markets and the human brain. A New York Times best-selling author, Daniel has published several books, including The Laws of Wealth and The Behavioral Investor, which we discuss in this episode.  His ideas have appeared in the Huffington Post and Risk Management Magazine, as well as his monthly columns for WealthManagement.com and Investment News. Daniel was named one of the “12 Thinkers to Watch” by Monster.com and a “Financial Blogger You Should Be Reading” by AARP.  In this substantive yet light-hearted conversation, Paul and Daniel examine: • Evolution and how we are the descendants of paranoid, twitchy, and skeptical ancestors • The role of self-esteem in achieving positive financial outcomes • How financial advisors (don’t call them “brokers!”) can keep yo from your own • And, of course…gazelles. He also shares insights into his guitar and sneaker fetish. (Well, maybe not “fetish,” but “obsession.”) Listen to Daniel's Standard Deviations podcast here and find his books here.  ❤️ Rate and review Crazy Money by clicking here. 

📩  See Paul’s upcoming shows here. 

📷Follow Paul on Instagram here. 

👒 See Paul’s wife’s fashion accessory, Sidecar here. 
 About Crazy Money: Unlike traditional personal finance shows, Crazy Money is not about how to make a million bucks, how to beat the stock market, or how to save money by switching credit cards. It is about deciding what role we want money to play in our lives and how we can use it to be our best selves. Topics covered include: philosophy, happiness, contentment, meaning, dreams, purpose, success, society, mental health, Buddhism, Stoicism, the hedonic treadmill, morality, mid-life crisis, business, work, careers, authors, books, consumerism, values, capitalism, economics, investing, saving, spending, personal finance, charity, philanthropy, altruism, affluence, wealth management, culture, society, status, ambition, accomplishment, perfectionism.  

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