Money For the Rest of Us

Latest Episodes:

The New Math of Retirement Spending and Investing Jan 06, 2021

Show notes

How should individuals invest and spend in retirement with interest rates so low, stock valuations high, and inflation uncertain. Why retirement managed payout funds and income replacement funds failed.

Topics covered include:

How managed payout and income replacement funds compare to immediate annuities
Why Vanguard and Fidelity changed the objective of their retiree focused income replacement and managed payout funds
How fixed annuities work
How retirees should combine annuities with multi-asset class portfolios to ensure a successful retirement
Why the 4% retirement spending rule is not appropriate for all investors all of the time.
Why inflation is the biggest determinant of how much retirees can spend
Why is there so much controversy over the current and future inflation rate

Thanks to Mint Mobile and Truebill for sponsoring the episode.

Show Note Links

Vanguard Throws in the Towel on Its Managed Payout Fund by Daren Fonda—Barron's

Generating Retirement Income Isn’t Easy, Even for Vanguard by Reshma Kapadia—Barron's

Today's Best Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuities (MYGAs)—ImmediateAnnuities.com

Opinion: The inventor of the ‘4% rule’ just changed it Brett Arends—MarketWatch

The Price of Tomorrow: Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future by Jeff Booth

Alternate Inflation Charts—John Williams' Shadow Government Statistics

Americans Are Richer Than We Think by By Phil Gramm and John F. Early—The Wall Street Journal

For more information on this episode click here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Convertible Bonds : The High Return Asset Class That Vanguard Abandoned Dec 16, 2020

Show notes

How convertible bonds work, why they gained 50% in 2020 and outperformed stocks over the past five years. Why Vanguard shut down their convertible bond mutual funds.

Topics discussed include:

How big is the convertible bond market
Why companies issue convertible bonds
How convertible bonds work and how to analyze them
Why convertible bonds have performed so well
What is a reasonable expected return for convertible bonds and what are the risks
What are ways to invest in convertible bonds

Thanks to Netsuite for sponsoring the episode. Take the Money For the Rest of Us listener survey.

Show Notes

A Plunge and a Recovery Drives a Top-Performing Year in Convertibles by Andrew Bary—Barron's

Convertible Bond Indices: An Overview by SPDR EMEA ETF Strategy Team—State Street Global Advisors

CONVERTIBLE SECURITIES: Structures, Valuation, Market Environment, and Asset Allocation by John P. Calamos, Sr with contributions from Eli Pars—Calamos Investments

Tesla, Inc. 2.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2024 (the “Convertible Notes Offering”) Issuer Free Writing Prospectus—U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Risk and Return in Convertible Arbitrage: Evidence from the Convertible Bond Market by Vikas Agarwal, William Fung, Yee Cheng Loon, and Narayan Y. Naik

The Fluctuating Maturities of Convertible Bonds by Patrick Verwijmeren, and Antti Yang

Convertible Bond Arbitrage by George Long—Eureka Hedge

For more information on this episode click here.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

2020 - The Year We Will Never Forget Dec 09, 2020

Show notes

A review of how the pandemic, financial markets, and government policy evolved in 2020 to make for an unforgettable year.

Topics covered include:

Why the Covid-19 pandemic ranks as the second worst in modern history
What is the difference between risk and uncertainty and how our investing should be different when dealing with uncertainty
What portfolio changes did David make in 2020 and how should he have invested if he had perfect foresight
Why speculative assets such as gold and cryptocurrencies have performed so well in 2020
Why high savings rate and pent up demand provides a tailwind for the economy
How to invest and live when the future is unknowable

Thanks to Policygenius and LinkedIn for sponsoring the episode.

Show Notes

286: Coronavirus and the Financial Impact of Pandemics

291: How To Survive the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Shutdown

Madame Vivelda—Saturday Night Live

What Is Risk vs Uncertainty?—Money For the Rest of Us Guide

299: Has the Pandemic Changed You?

Personal Saving Rate—Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

302: Investing is Not Knowing

310: Why the Stock Market and Economy Are Rebounding So Quickly

How 700 Epidemiologists Are Living Now, and What They Think Is Next by Margot Sanger-Katz, Claire Cain Miller, and Quoctrung Bui—The New York Times

Paul McCartney Is Still Trying to Figure Out Love by David Marchese—New York Times Magazine

For more information on this episode click here.

Also, go here to learn more about Money For the Rest of Us Plus membership.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Economy Is Not a Machine Dec 02, 2020

Show notes

How the drive for efficiency leads to greater wealth concentration and threatens capitalism. What can be done about it.

Topics covered include:

Why income growth has slowed for the middle class
Why the economy now follows a power-law distribution rather than a normal distribution, leading to skewed outcomes
Why the economy is a complex adaptive system rather than a machine
How the type of job you have and the company you work for affects your income
Why greater efficiency increases the risk of catastrophic collapses
What are ways to balance efficiency with resiliency

Show Notes

Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2016 to 2019: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances—The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve

How America Banks: Household Use of Banking and Financial Services—Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

When More Is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiency by Roger L. Martin

How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio—Video

For more information on this episode click here.

Also, go here to learn more about Money For the Rest of Us Plus membership.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Why Currency Exchange Rates Matter Nov 18, 2020

Show notes

How a nation's balance of payments impacts its currency exchange rate as evidenced by Turkey and other countries.

Topics covered include:

What is a nation's balance of payments, its current account, and its capital account
How an individual's personal financial flows are similar to those of a country
What is causing the currency crisis in Turkey and Lebanon
Why gold imports have increased by 150% in Turkey
What is the Triffin dilemma or paradox and how does it impact the United States
What individuals can do to manage currency risks

Thanks to The Great Courses Plus and Policygenius for sponsoring the episode.

For show notes and more information on this episode click here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How To Analyze Complex Investments Nov 11, 2020

Show notes

How to determine whether you should invest in a complex investment such as an actively managed ETF that uses option strategies.

Topics covered include:

A recent investment David made that he shouldn't have
What is the volatility risk premium and how to invest in it
Why there have been over 200 new ETFs and ETNs launched in the U.S. in 2020
Why some ETF sponsors launch lower cost versions of ETFs that compete with their existing offerings.
What questions to answer as part of analyzing a complex investment
Why there is always a catch to ETFs such as the Innovators Stacker and Ultra Buffer ETF series that can make them seem too good to be true.
A simpler way to lower portfolio risk without using complex option-based ETFs.

Thanks to Netsuite and LinkedIn for sponsoring the episode.

For show notes and more information on this episode click here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Somebody Won the Election. Now What? Nov 04, 2020

Show notes

As we await the U.S. presidential election results, we review the results of the Trump Administration's economic policies to see if Americans are better off financially than they were four years ago.

Topics covered include:

Why pollsters and election models can be wrong
Why the state of the economy often drives election outcomes
What has been the economic impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
What has been the impact of the U.S. trade war with China
How have poverty and health insurance costs changed under the Trump Administration
What has been the growth of federal regulations under the Trump Administration
How have stocks performed during the Trump Administration
Why we shouldn't let whoever wins the presidency ruin our life

Thanks to Policygenius and Tempo for sponsoring the episode. Use code David with Tempo for $100 off

For show notes and more information on this episode click here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Here Come Central Bank Digital Currencies Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

How central bank digital currencies would work, what is the motivation to create them and what are the risks.

Topics covered include:

What percentage of central banks are working on a digital currency and plan to issue one soon
What are the two kinds of money that central banks currently issue and how would a central bank digital currency differ
How central bank digital currencies would be similar and different from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
What are the benefits and risks of central bank digital currencies
What are the design principles that major central banks proposed for their digital currencies
What percentage of central banks currently have the legal authority to issue their own digital currency

Thanks to Gen Z Green podcast and Masterworks for sponsoring the episode. Use code David for Masterworks to skip the wait list.

For show notes and more information on this episode click here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What Are SPACs and Should You Invest in Them? Oct 21, 2020

Show notes

How special purpose acquisition companies work, what their performance has been and what are the ways to invest.

Topics covered include:

How much money has been raised in SPAC initial public offerings and who are some of the better known sponsors
What are the benefits of a SPAC acquisition compared to a traditional initial public offering
How SPACs work from the initial IPO to the acquisition of a private company
How have SPACs performed so poorly
How a new SPAC ETF is structured
An intriguing way to invest in SPACs that potentially could outperform

Thanks to Tempo and NetSuite for sponsoring the episode. Use code David to save $100 on Tempo.

For show notes and more information on this episode click here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How to Buy in a Hot Housing Market Oct 14, 2020

Show notes

U.S. home prices are on fire and sales are skyrocketing. Here are 8 rules of thumb for buying a house in a hot housing market when there are multiple bidders over the asking price.

Topics covered include:

What are the latest metrics on U.S. home sales, prices, and valuations
Why are homes sales increasing and prices soaring and how likely are they to fall
Why David is buying a different house (again) in a hot housing market
What are rules of thumb that can help us find the right house without paying too much

Thanks to The Great Courses Plus and Policygenius for sponsoring the episode.

For show notes and more information on this episode click here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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