Inflation remains a hot-button topic in the news today.  However, there are lots of different measures of inflation running around out there.  In this episode, we will examine the two major inflation measures: Consumer Price Index ("CPI") and Personal Consumption Expenditure ("PCE"), as well as the "core" variants of each in an effort to help you better understand how inflation is measured.  The two measures are not identical and the media tends to prefer to report CPI.  However, the Federal Reserve tends to prefer to watch PCE, specifically "core" PCE.  You'll learn in today's episode how all of these measures are different and why that matters.

In this episode we will discuss one of the most common cognitive errors in investing: confirmation bias.  Confirmation bias is when we tend to find, retain, and promote data that is in alignment with a particular viewpoint or thesis.  We'll discuss this in detail and discuss how confirmation bias can lead to poor investment decisions and how to avoid these errors.

Direct Indexing is a popular equity investing strategy that involves replicating a stock index using the individual stocks that comprise the index as opposed to buying a fund that tracks the index.  Direct indexing has been around for some time, but has increased in popularity in the last several years.  In this episode, we'll disucss the pros and cons of direct indexing as well as what sort of investors may want to consider if direct indexing is appropriate for them.

In this episode, we analyze the basics of estate planning.  Estate planning is a core component of a solid overall financial plan.  In this overview episode, we will discuss wills, trusts, powers of attorney, advanced directives and how they all work together in unison to create an estate plan.  

In this episode, we investigate and analyze tax penalties.  We discuss how you can avoid the most common tax penalty - underpayment penalties - by taking advantage of the "safe harbor" provisions.  Making sure you avoid tax penalties is an important part of tax planning.  Through paying estimated taxes and through making correct tax witholdings, you can work to avoid having to pay underpayment penalties.

The Federal Reserve has been in the news a considerable amount lately with markets on edge to hear if the Federal Reserve will "raise rates" or "lower rates".  When they raise and lower rates, they are actually raising and lowering a rate called the "Federal Funds Rate" or "Fed" Funds Rate.  In this episode, we examine what the Fed Funds Rate is, why it is important, and how it impacts investors when the Federal Reserve decides to change that rate.  

In this episode, we discuss Backdoor Roth Conversion strategies and what can go wrong when rules like the "pro-rata" rule are not closely followed.  This is a common pitfall when implementing a Backdoor Roth Conversion, and we examine that in this episode.

FDIC Insurance has been a major topic in the news lately.  In this episode, we analyze the FDIC by looking at its origins, how it operates today, and we summarize how the FDIC Insurance works as it relates to bank deposits. 

This is the final episode in our multi-part series on fixed income.  For the episode, we examine the "income" part of fixed income.  We discuss how to determine the amount of income from a bond, how to define its yield-to-maturity, yield-to-call, and coupon rate and why those are all important.  Lastly, we briefly discuss how these yield measures helpt construct fixed income portfolios to meet objectives.

In this episode, we continue our mulit-part series on Fixed Income.  This episode focuses on Interest Rate Risk and duration and how both are important to understand when managing fixed income portfolios.  Additionally, we consider the current events in the SVB Bank failure, and how that can serve as a lesson as it relates to interest rate risk.