Episode 82 - Catch me if you can

Do you work with a full service broker?

Are you buying individual stocks and bonds on your own?

Are you loading up on your cousin Ralph’s favorite stock of the week?

If you are, do you know if it’s working?

In this episode JJ challenges you to compare results with his modified version of the Bogglehead 3 fund portfolio. In one easy step you will learn why tracking your results matters and if doing something super simple might be better than any of the options above. As usual, what could possibly go wrong?

Episode 81 - Help, it’s an emergency!

Do you have an emergency fund? If not, you should!

In this episode, with the help of AI JJ delves into emergency funds to discover:

• Why do you need an emergency fund?

• How big should your emergency fund be?

• Where should you keep your emergency fund?

• How should you fill your emergency fund?

• When should you use your emergency fund?

• What should you do after you use your emergency fund?

Buckle up for some silly acting (of course) and some hopefully helpful rules of thumb on emergency funds. 

ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini AI free versions were used to research this episode. 

Prompt used for all 3 AI’s:

“what are the basic rules of thumb for building and maintaining an emergency fund”

Episode 80 - Charting a course

Do you have an Investment Policy Statement? If not, maybe you should.

In this episode JJ revisits the tenets of the VISION model last mentioned in Episode 50 and then dives into the Investment Policy Statement to talk about what it is, why you need one, and what you might want to put in yours.

Then we close out the Episode by reviewing JJ’s own Investment Policy Statement.

IPS sample format and content provided by Claude AI from Anthropic.

Episode 79 - Sticks and stones

We have all been called names. When people call you names related to saving and investing it might say more about them than it does about you. In an episode that is both therapy for the host and informative for the guests JJ tries to unpack better behavior through name calling.

Are you cheap, or are you thoughtful? Here are 3 checks you can make to figure it out.

Are you weird, or are you prepared? Here are 3 things to consider when striving to be better than normal with your finances.

Episode 78 - Vino and Dinero

Does drinking wine make you a better investor? Probably not. But if you ask your good questions ahead of time then you might get some candid answers.

In this offbeat  episode JJ talks to 3 family members who are charging through the first decade of their careers and investing journeys to answer some really great questions on saving, investing and living their best life.

Episode 77 - Investment Showdown #3

We are back with another investment showdown. This time we are comparing two random investments chosen by ChatGPT.

1. Avantis U.S. Equity ETF (AVUS)

2. Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP)

Buckle up for some strong if barely useful opinions, some amateur analysis of investments that are new to your humble host, and his final conclusion of if or when you might buy each of them. Also, just for fun, which he would pick if he could only invest in one.

Episode 76 - Yes and no

Boundaries are an important part of living your best life. Are you saying yes and no at the right times?

In this episode JJ dives into some key takeaways inspired by the best selling book Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend.

Observations include core concepts of:

• Responsibility - What are you responsible for (yes) and not responsible for (no)

• Communication - People can’t read your mind, be forthright about what you want

• Love - What we give out of love is always stronger than what we give out of obligation.

Episode 75 - I will gladly repay you on Tuesday

In this is the long overdue episode on bonds we will explore:

• What are bonds?

• What causes bonds to go up and down?

• Who sells bonds?

• Should we all have bonds?

Get ready for some more goofy acting and stories as JJ with the help of his niece Cady tries to make learning about bonds both entertaining and educational. Here’s hoping he gets at least one of those right.

Episode 74 - No such thing as a free lunch.

None of us work for free. Given that, we should not expect our financial advisors to either. If you are getting help investing your money and you think you are paying low or no fees, then your advisor may be profiting from you in another way that is not as obvious.

In this episode we cover 3 major themes of fees that financial professionals receive including:

1. Direct fees

2. Marketing and Revenue Sharing fees

3. Wealth Management fees

Then we review how your costs could be made up of one or more of these fees. We make the case that up front and transparent fees, when necessary, are the best kind of fees to pay for financial services both from a peace of mind and long term outcome perspective.

If you or someone you care about is working with a broker-dealer to invest hard earned money then this episode is definitely for you.

Investments discussed will include:

• Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares (VTI)

• American Funds The Growth Fund of America® C (GFACX)

Episode 73 - Are the robots our friends?

Morning Star has released their 2025 Robo-Advisor report and we were excited to dig in and find out what if anything has changed in 2 years. The discussion includes:

1. The state of robo advisors in 2025

2. Who are the leaders per the semi-annual Morning Star 2025 Robo-Advisor Report and which if any are different from 2023?

3. Does this still represent a  good option for  beginning, journeyman and late stage investors?

This is one of our favorite episodes so let’s dive in and find out what’s up with Robo-Advisors in 2025!

Link to the Morning Star article:

https://www.morningstar.com/financial-advisors/best-robo-advisors