Segment 1: Phillip Shaw, CFP, Senior Advisor, Goldstone Financial Group, joins John to talk about the markets being impervious to economic uncertainty, if it’s too early to assess the impact of tariffs, where he’s telling clients to park their money, what he expects from the Fed meeting this week, when the Fed should start cutting interest rates, and why the Fed has been hesitant to cut rates.

Segment 2: Jim Dallke, Director of Communications, TechNexus Venture Collaborative, tells John about IBM giving more support to Chicago’s quantum startups, Psi Quantum, a startup building a quantum computer in Chicago, saying its quantum computer expects to be online by 2028, and healthy vending machine startup Farmers Fridge growing fast.

Segment 3: Dawn Melchiorre, Executive Director, Cradles to Crayons, tells John what Cradles to Crayons does, their ‘Ready for Learning’ initiative, their goal to provide 100,000 backpacks filled with school supplies to underserved students across the Chicago area.