Things They Don’t Teach Us

The financial markets can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have the time or training to follow it. Still, about 61% of Americans own stocks. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen recently, tariffs and other sources of volatility can significantly impact everyone’s wealth and net worth, fast! That makes this a great time to refresh your understanding of Wall Street.

Silas Myers, CFA, joins us to demystify the stock market. He offers advice for young people starting out in life, and for all investors generally. He also shares the one stock he won’t touch right now. Can you guess what it is?

Are you good with savings or better at status?

Is your flavor of gratification instant or deferred?

Simple questions, but little by little the answers and responses to each one add up and shape the financial trajectory of our lives. 

Guest Nick Josey, founder of the Vincita Institute, joins us to share his advice and suggestions for how to shift our mindsets around these and other questions, and why they're so important. Additionally, he sprinkles in anecdotes from his own trajectory, a journey from rural North Carolina to the suburbs of Boston, to illustrate his motivations and how he counsels his clients to rethink their actions as they work toward their goals.

Being fired.

Getting laid off.

Made redundant.

No matter what you call it, leaving a job involuntarily can range from an annoyance (if you’re planning to leave the job soon anyway) to a blow to one’s self esteem. Some people even feel like failures or become embarrassed by the loss of a job. Of course, not all job losses are the same, and in many cases it’s due to a clash of expectations or personalities with supervisors that cause the rupture.

If/when you’re about to be fired, what should you do in that moment, and what can you do afterward? Despite the more dramatic exits people make in popular movies and TV shows, there are simple and appropriate ways to handle the news and transition to the next position. 

Our guest, Cecilia Akuffo, shares her experience and advice from nearly 10 years working in HR. She also has an eight-episode podcast, “Workplace Fairness And Dignity,” in which she takes on employment practices not discussed, and not widely known by workers: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1603621

Unlike in some cultures, aging in the United States is stigmatized as being an endless decline in quality of life until the end. Youth is revered while aging is feared. Despite the memory slips, graying hair, and occasional aches, what are we missing by not appreciating aging and seeing it as worthy of celebration?

Guest Christine Rose joins us to share her thoughts on aging over the past half century. Although not old by most standards, she has reached what Wendy calls "a luxurious age." In addition to sharing her journey of self-acceptance and discovery, she also shares the advice she often gives to the younger people in her life.

 

Note: Wendy was referring to the Sugar Hill Gang's album during the intro conversation.

As we all know, anyone can be rejected for anything at any time. But, despite the ubiquity of rejection in our lives, we're rarely - if ever - taught how to handle it in healthy and humane ways.

Guest Christina "Tippi" Cogen joins us to discuss some of the underlying reasons people may feel rejected or need to reject someone. She also shares how we can process those feelings and experiences healthily. Our wide-ranging conversation runs the gamut from childhood slights to our best future selves. We also jump into the long-running question of whether ghosting is an appropriate tactic.

Have you ever felt like a professional fraud? Despite your level of education, professional achievements, or job title, did you ever think that you didn’t belong there, shouldn’t belong there, and that everyone else would think the same? If so, you may have experienced the powerfully isolating feeling of Imposter Syndrome. It’s definitely something they don’t teach us when almost no one feels comfortable talking about it. So, let’s change that with this episode. Guest Patty Marcel joins us to share her doubts, experiences, and advice for recognizing, working through, and assisting others with escaping Imposter Syndrome.

Whether you’ve been through it before or are going through it now, you’re sure to hear some familiar tales. Let’s break the taboo about discussing Imposter Syndrome and make escaping it something we all talk about and teach others.

What happens when the words we use and the platforms we employ for communication aren’t working in our favor? Languages evolve and methods of communication modernize, but are we reaching a point where technology is controlling and shaping our thoughts more than we realize? And if it is, how will the awareness of this change your behaviors?

Meet Samuel Allen, an actor, writer, and teacher, who teaches people how to express themselves through language and who uses language as a means of convincing - or perhaps manipulating - others to engage with content that they may not actually need. At one point, Derek even asks Samuel if he feels any responsibility for his part in the decline of Western society.

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with his revelations, how will they change the way you regularly communicate and receive information?

If you’ve never thought about leaving the 9-to-5 cycle early and embarking on something new, this episode may not be for you. However, if you’ve spent any time existing in the space between casually daydreaming and doing back-of-the-envelope math, then this episode may stir something new within you.

The FIRE (financial independence, retire early) philosophy was having a moment during the years leading up to the pandemic. Although COVID caused some people to rethink their approaches, other people found ways to build their own FIRE plans. We’re sharing our thoughts and some of the steps to consider if you’re thinking about it.

How does someone go from the corn fields of Illinois to becoming a businesswoman and a world traveler? What are the risks involved and how does one factor in the calculations needed to assess them?

Meet Trina Mitchell. Born and raised in East Moline, IL, she enlisted in the US Army at the age of 17. After a 3-year tour, she enrolled in UMass Lowell to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. During her career in Investment Finance/Client Management, she received her fitness certification in order to develop her passion for health and wellness, which resulted in the start of a small fitness coaching business. Named Personal Best, Trina’s business incorporates the Army’s boot camp principles, along with standard strength training and cardio combinations. Since then, she has also moved into real estate investing.

In this conversation, Trina details her motivations and shares anecdotes of the people along the way who counseled, warned, and shared their own stories with her. Together, they present an eye-opening cocktail of experiences that will leave you wondering whether you would do the same thing if put in the same position.

Erin Anderson’s life has been one of learning, education, and service “at best.” She grew up in Montana and attended UMass Amherst studying sociology and history with a concentration on the Black Arts Movement. Her Masters degree is in Intercultural Youth and Family Development, which was housed in the counselor education program at the University of Montana - Missoula.

Her life's work is centered on the importance of collective healing & personal growth through loving action. Equity, inclusion, diversity, culture, and yoga are her main tools for personal healing and social change. She has worked in service throughout her professional life from the food & restaurant industry, to residential youth homes, and nonprofit program management & design.

She believes community happens through creation & growth of authentic relationships and in addressing both triumph and trauma within our own bodies. By doing this we learn to accept what we can not change and engage in meaningful release of what is not in service to empowerment and betterment of all of humankind.

In this conversation, Erin discusses vulnerability and its crossover with pleasure and with shame. She also shares how shame appears in the mind and body and where she sees a schism in yoga.