Reasonably Happy with Paul Ollinger

Marc Cohodes has made a career betting against companies he suspects of fraud. So when two FBI agents showed up on his farm to tell him to stop Tweeting about MiMedx CEO Pete Petit, Marc says he knew something was rotten in the Marietta, GA biotech’s company’s operations.  Marc contends that MiMedx has been engaged in several dishonest practices and that Petit called in political favors from Georgia senator, Johnny Isakson who interceded on MiMedx’s behalf with the VA, FDA, and FBI while Isakson was chair of both Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs and the Senate Ethics Committee.  In his 30+ year career, Marc claims to have put a lot of people in jail, and exposed 50-70 frauds, mostly in biotech and sub-prime mortgages. He has been called, “the scourge of Wall Street,” and “Warren Buffett’s mosquito.” Harvard Business School has written two case studies about Marc’s methods.   Marc is especially tenacious when target companies push back or trash his reputation. Says he, "There’s no greater motivator than disrespect." 
Follow Marc on Twitter: https://twitter.com/alderlaneeggs Complement Paul on his supple skin: http://PaulOllinger.com

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Gerald Chertavian is the Founder / CEO of “Year Up.”  According to the US Dept of Labor, there are 7.3 million unfilled jobs in the United States. At the same time, there are millions of young adults who are working way below their potential or not working at all. Year Up takes those who want to work, arms them with both technical and social skills, then connects them to employers who need motivated, qualified employees.  No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, you can find a lot to love in Year Up. 

Think the economically disadvantaged need a break? YEAR UP! 

Think the poor should pull themselves up by their bootstraps? YEAR UP!

Year up is there to benefit the most at-risk in our society, but helps them with a hand, not a handout. 

Gerald earned a B.A. in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, from Bowdoin College. He received his M.B.A., with honors, from Harvard Business School and in 2016 received the Distinguished Alumni Award. Full disclosure: Year Up is my family’s #1 philanthropic priority, and my wife, Stacey, serves on the board of Year Up Greater Atlanta.  
Read more good news from Year Up here: https://www.yearup.org 
Visit Paul here: http://paulollinger.com

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You’ve likely seen Joe Matarese on one of his many television appearances, including two sets on Late Show with David Letterman, five on the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, or on his Comedy Central Presents half hour special, among many others. As a finalist on America’s Got Talent, Joe received a standing ovation from the 2,000-person crowd and all four celebrity judges.  With all these amazing credits, you’d think this native of Cherry Hill, NJ would be at the top of the comedy world. But like so many other very talented comedians who are not quite household names, Joe is out there grinding it out, making hay when and where he can.  Comedy is Joe’s passion, but it’ also his job—a job he’s been doing for 30 years and one that gets harder as he gets older and continues to balance his work with his commitment to his family. Joe and his wife—who has a PhD in psychology—juggle their schedules to raise two kids in the suburbs of New York City.  I have spent many weekends on the road as Joe’s opening act, and I consider him to be a good friend.  
See all things Joe here: https://joematarese.com/
Tell Paul he’s a good person here:http://paulollinger.com

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Graham Hill has a message for you: that big ol’ house of yours—and all the stuff in it—isn’t making you (or the environment) happy. His words are resonating. Graham’s two TED Talks on low-impact living and #minimalism have been viewed over 7 million times. A successful entrepreneur, Graham co-founded, ran and sold both SiteWerks and TreeHugger.com. Today he runs LifeEdited, which is dedicated to helping people design their lives for more happiness with less stuff.  At LifeEdited, Graham marries his passion for environmentalism with his experience in architecture and design to create low-footprint, high-fulfillment homes. These spaces are not just smaller, but incredibly functional and visually pleasing. LifeEdited demonstrates that you can live quite well and in a elegantly-designed environment while freeing up space, time and energy to live a better life.  Because less is not just more. It’s also beautiful.   See his 1,000 sq ft house in Maui: http://lifeedited.com/lifeedited-maui-in-the-new-york-times/ and his 350 sq ft apartment in NYC: http://lifeedited.com/lifeedited-2/  More about Paul aqui: http://paulollinger.com

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Will MacAskill—whom Bill Gates describes as, “a data nerd after my own heart"—is Associate Professor in Philosophy and Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford. Will’s academic research focuses on the fundamentals of effective altruism—the use of evidence and reason to help others by as much as possible with our time and money, with a particular concentration on how to act given moral uncertainty. He is the author of Doing Good Better - Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference.His TED Talk on the subject has earned almost two million views.Will is also the Director of the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research, a co-founder and the President of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) and helped to create the effective altruism movement. Through Giving What We Can, CEA encourages people to commit to donate at least 10% of their income to the most effective charities. (You can take the pledge here.) 
Will and I discuss global disease, factory farming, nuclear annihilation (smily emoticon) and whether or not those rich folks who donated to re-build Notre Dame Cathedral should have used their money in another way. 
See my upcoming shows and links to my comedy EP, Alive on the Upper West Side on: http://paulollinger.com

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Samantha Barry is Editor in Chief of Glamour where she is responsible for setting the voice and mission of the publication.  As a young woman in Ireland, Sam once dreamed of being a war correspondent. Her early work in journalism took her all over the world, including stints in Nigeria, Burma, Pakistan, Iraq, Papua New Guinea, Burma, and many other turbulent locations where she worked for the BBC, Intermedia and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.  Lucky for us here in the States, she came to America in 2014 to head up social media for CNN. Last year she began her stint at Glamour after being recruited by the legendary Anna Wintour, longtime Editor in Chief of Vogue. Ms. Wintour calls Sam, “fearless … the perfect editor for a new, more ambitious era of Glamour’s future.  I met Sam in Conde Nast's New York offices where we talked about her career, how fashion magazines co-exist with consumerism, how Irish and Americans attitudes toward money differ, and — of course— where one can get the best pint of Guinness in New York City.  
See more about Glamour Women of the Year: https://glamourwoty.com/ 
Send Paul guest suggestions and diet tips on http://paulollinger.com

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If you’re in the upper middle class or above, today’s conversation might make you uncomfortable. In fact, my guest says that discussing his research ruins dinner parties with his affluent friends. Why? Because his studies conclude that the upper middle class keep all the societal goodies to themselves, and worst of all, he may just be right. 
Named by Politico magazine as one of the top 50 thinkers in the U.S., Richard V. Reeves is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he directs the Future of the Middle Class Initiative and co-directs the Center on Children and Families. 
His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, National Affairs, The Atlantic, and Wall Street Journal, among other fine publications. He is the author of Dream Hoarders, which was named a Book of the Year by The Economist, and a Political Book of the Year by The Observer. It is both eye-opening and scary. 
A British-American, Richard was director of strategy to the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2012. Other previous roles include director of Demos, the London-based political think-tank; social affairs editor of the Observer; and principal policy advisor to the Minister for Welfare Reform. Richard is also a former European Business Speaker of the Year and has a BA from Oxford University and a PhD from Warwick University.
I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and I must say that, even though Dream Hoarders made me squirm a touch, it really made me think. And that’s a good thing. Richard's ideas are worthy of your time and full consideration. 
Get your copy of Dream Hoarders: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081572912X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=081572912X&linkCode=as2&tag=crazymoney0a-20&linkId=122c973ad791155e54210dbd56be950a More about Richard here: https://richardvreeves.com/ Give Paul grooming tips here: http://paulollinger.com

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When it comes to delivering hilarious, non-obvious wisdom through a microphone, Adam Carolla is the very best. Yes, Stern is amazing and Terry Gross is the patron saint of the modern interview, but for the improvisational spoken-word, Adam Carolla is the unique genius of our time. In addition to a decades-long radio career, he is also a comedian, actor, film director, auto racing enthusiast and one of the pioneers of the podcasting industry.  Adam entered the national consciousness as co-host of Loveline in 1995, then went on to co-create and co-host The Man Show with Jimmy Kimmel. Since then, he has produced, created or guest-starred in a plethora of other TV projects, including Crank Yankers, To Catch a Contractor,Celebrity Apprentice, The Car Show, and Dancing with the Stars.  As if that’s not enough, he also has written multiple NYT best-selling books, two of which I recently read recently, both causing me to laugh until snot came out of my nose.  

To see Adam’s comedy special, Not Taco Bell Material, click here or find it on Amazon here. You can learn more about Adam’s myriad pursuits on https://adamcarolla.com/ 
Tell Paul you love him (or are completely indifferent to him) go to http://PaulOllinger.com

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Gianni Le Nguyen fled Vietnam at the age of 5. Late one night in the early 1980s, her father wrapped his two young daughters in a fishing net, then rowed a basket boat out to meet a more seaworthy vessel a quarter mile offshore. They spent five days battling storms, illness and pirates who took everything Gianni’s dad possessed, including his official papers. Thus began a beauracratic mess that left her family in refugee camps for over two years before they finally made their way to Beaverton, Oregon. Almost 40 years later, Gianni is a successful entrepreneur, mother of four, and wife to an American dude named Brian. Her journey fits a pattern of Asian immigration that has strengthen the USA. According to Pew Research, "Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success.” Gianni and I talk about her journey and how it affected her relationship to money, financial security and her thoughts on a paper work ethic. See pictures of Gianni and family on the official podcast page. 
Send Paul a message via his website, http://paulollinger.com
Listen to Paul’s new comedy EP, “Alive on the Upper West Side" on iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/alive-on-the-upper-west-side/1466845993 or wherever you consume your humor through your ears.

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Allison Schrager is the author of the new book, An Economist Walks into a Brothel in which she explores risk through the lens of prostitution, big-wave surfing and war. If you liked Freakanomics, you’ll dig this book too.  
Allison is an economist, journalist at Quartz, and co-founder of LifeCycle Finance Partners, LLC, a risk advisory firm. She has been a regular contributor to the Economist, Reuters, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Her writing has also appeared in Playboy, Wired, National Review and Foreign Affairs. She earned her PhD in Economics from Columbia University and has consulted to international organizations, including the OECD and IMF.
Paul and Allison met in the offices of her publisher, Portfolio, in New York City. Among many topics, they discussed how being purposeful about our goals is the first step in determining how much risk we should take in life, careers and investing strategies. 
Learn more about Allison here:  https://www.allisonschrager.com. Acknowledge Paul's existence here: http://paulollinger.com

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