The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas

Latest Episodes:

How the National Debt is Making Life More Expensive Oct 28, 2026

Show notes

At the beginning of the century, the U.S. was on track to pay off its federal debt. Today, that debt has surpassed $40 trillion, with annual interest payments exceeding the defense budget. As the debt continues to grow, concerns are mounting over its long-term impact on the economy and everyday Americans.

This week on The Important Part, Marc Goldwein, Senior Vice President and Senior Policy Director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, joins Liz Thomas to unpack America's growing national debt. Marc explains how decades of fiscal policy decisions and an aging population have contributed to the problem, and why the debt-to-GDP ratio may be more important than the headline number.

Liz and Marc discuss how rising debt could affect everyday Americans, from borrowing costs to long-term economic growth. Marc explains why he believes the U.S. could be entering the early stages of a debt spiral and shares his concerns about what could happen if the government fails to act. He also outlines potential solutions, including his proposed reforms to Social Security and ways to address federal spending.

The discussion then shifts to financial markets, where Liz examines the relationship between rising Treasury yields and the national debt. Marc offers his perspective on the risks facing the Treasury market, while Liz considers what growing debt could mean for investors and whether policymakers can address the problem before it becomes a larger crisis.

The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas is a video podcast covering investing, markets, economic trends, portfolio strategy, and the biggest stories shaping investors today.

About SoFi®: A finance company that could help you get ahead. Get Your Money Right® with SoFi.

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This podcast should be used for informational purposes only and not deemed as a recommendation. Our Automated investing is via SoFi Wealth LLC, and is a registered investment advisor. Our Active investing is via SoFi securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. For additional disclosures related to the SoFi Invest® platforms, please visit www.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SoFi.com/Legal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

How to Build Wealth in Today's Economy with Kyla Scanlon Oct 21, 2026

Show notes

The American Dream used to feel within reach. But with rising housing costs and an uncertain job market, younger generations are questioning what financial success looks like and whether the traditional path still makes sense.

This week on The Important Part, financial educator and In This Economy? How Money & Markets Really Work author Kyla Scanlon joins Liz Thomas to discuss how younger generations are redefining the American Dream. Kyla shares why she believes today's economy increasingly rewards asset ownership and what that means for people trying to build wealth.

Liz and Kyla also explore the growing divide in how young people approach money. Kyla shares her observations on why some are investing early with the goal of building financial security, while others are turning to riskier opportunities like prediction markets. She also explains the thinking behind the “little treat economy” and how the rising cost of homeownership may be reshaping attitudes toward saving.

The discussion then shifts to artificial intelligence and its potential impact on the workforce. Kyla shares her concerns about the investment fueling the AI boom, while Liz examines whether the technology has reached its peak of inflated expectations.

The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas is a video podcast covering investing, markets, economic trends, portfolio strategy, and the biggest stories shaping investors today.

About SoFi®: A finance company that could help you get ahead. Get Your Money Right® with SoFi.

Additional resources:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Investing Guide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Information you need to know to make your money work harder for you.

What Kind of Investor Are You? Emma Grede and Rebecca Patterson on Risk Oct 14, 2026

Show notes

How does your relationship with risk affect the way you invest? Emma Grede and investor Rebecca Patterson join Liz Thomas to talk about money, risk-taking, and the experiences that shape the investors we become.

Recorded live from SoFi’s first-ever Smart Money Social Club, entrepreneur Emma Grede and globally recognized investor Rebecca Patterson join Liz Thomas for a candid conversation about how taking risks can shape your relationship with money and investing.

Emma shares how growing up in a working-class household shaped her relationship with money and why being underpaid and undervalued ultimately pushed her to start her first business at 24. Rebecca reflects on building a career in finance while still having to learn how to manage and invest her own money. She explains how years of investing professionally changed the way she thinks about risk in her own portfolio — and why getting started earlier can make such a meaningful difference over time.

Liz also introduces SoFi’s Investor Personality Quiz, which looks at how you approach risk and make financial decisions. Emma considers herself a risk seeker. Rebecca lands closer to the middle. And both reveal how their own experiences have shaped the way they invest.

So, what’s your Investing Personality? Take SoFi’s Investor Personality Quiz to explore how your natural tendencies may influence the way you make investing decisions: https://www.sofi.com/invest/investor-personality-quiz/

The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas is a video podcast covering investing, markets, economic trends, portfolio strategy, and the biggest stories shaping investors today.

About SoFi®: A finance company that could help you get ahead. Get Your Money Right® with SoFi.

Additional resources:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Investing Guide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Information you need to know to make your money work harder for you.

AI Is Transforming Cybersecurity. Here’s What to Know. Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

Artificial intelligence is changing cybersecurity on both sides of the fight.

As AI becomes more powerful, it may be giving hackers new ways to exploit weaknesses faster than companies can fix them. On this episode of The Important Part, Boaz Gelbord, Chief Security Officer at Akamai Technologies, joins Liz Thomas to share his perspective on how AI is reshaping cybersecurity and why he believes businesses may be entering a more vulnerable period.

Liz explores with Boaz how individuals can better safeguard their personal information as cyber threats become more sophisticated. Boaz also explains how he thinks companies should approach protecting critical systems as AI introduces new challenges for cybersecurity teams.

The conversation turns to the thousands of cybersecurity vendors competing in the market, as Boaz discusses where he thinks the industry is headed and what could set certain companies apart. Liz and Boaz also examine what the sector’s growth could mean for investors. As AI takes on a larger role in cybersecurity, what could separate the companies that stand out from the rest?

The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas is a video podcast covering investing, markets, economic trends, portfolio strategy, and the biggest stories shaping investors today.

About SoFi®: A finance company that could help you get ahead. Get Your Money Right® with SoFi.

Additional resources:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Investing Guide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Information you need to know to make your money work harder for you.

Jean Chatzky: How to Save for Retirement and Still Enjoy Your Money Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

Retirement planning can feel intimidating, whether you’re decades away or getting ready to make the transition. Jean Chatzky wants to make it feel a little more manageable.

This week on The Important Part, HerMoney CEO and The Forever Paycheck author Jean Chatzky joins Liz Thomas to discuss how to prepare for retirement while still enjoying your life today. Jean shares her perspective on retirement savings benchmarks and why knowing your own numbers matters more than comparing yourself to everyone else.

Liz and Jean also explore the financial decisions younger generations face when retirement still feels decades away, including how much to save as your income changes and how to balance preparing for the future with the life you want to live now.

The conversation also gets into Social Security and how Jean thinks about different types of retirement accounts. Jean then explains one of the surprising challenges retirees can face: after decades of watching their savings grow, spending that money can feel like losing it. She shares the thinking behind The Forever Paycheck and why creating a reliable stream of retirement income may help address that emotional hurdle.

The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas is a video podcast covering investing, markets, economic trends, portfolio strategy, and the biggest stories shaping investors today.

About SoFi®: A finance company that could help you get ahead. Get Your Money Right® with SoFi.

Additional resources:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Investing Guide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Information you need to know to make your money work harder for you.

Tony Robbins on Investing Beyond the Stock Market Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

Tony Robbins says the old investor playbook is changing.

For decades, many investors were told to build wealth through public stocks and bonds. But Tony believes some of the biggest opportunities may sit outside the traditional market, in private equity, private credit, sports ownership, and other alternative investments that were once harder for individual investors to access.

On this episode of The Important Part, Tony joins Liz Thomas alongside Christopher Zook, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of CAZ Investments, for a conversation about what it means to become an owner and why access to private markets is changing. Tony and Christopher also share their perspectives on what investors need to understand before stepping into a less familiar part of the market.

This is not a conversation about chasing the next hot trade. Liz presses Tony and Christopher on the real tradeoffs behind alternative investments, including limited liquidity, higher fees, lockups, and why access does not automatically mean an investment belongs in every portfolio.

Tony and Christopher also discuss The Holy Grail of Investing, their book about alternative investments and private-market access, and why they updated it now as AI, energy, defense, and space reshape the investment landscape.

The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas is a video podcast covering investing, markets, economic trends, portfolio strategy, and the biggest stories shaping investors today.

About SoFi®: A finance company that could help you get ahead. Get Your Money Right® with SoFi.

Additional resources:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Investing Guide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Information you need to know to make your money work harder for you.

What Could the Midterms Mean for Markets? Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

Midterms are approaching, bringing questions about what the outcome could mean for policy and investors.

Libby Cantrill, Head of U.S. Public Policy at PIMCO, joins us on The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas this week to share her take on midterms and what investors should be watching as November approaches.

Libby and Liz dig into affordability and the issues shaping the political conversation ahead of the election. You’ll hear Libby’s take on what could happen with tariffs after the midterms and whether she expects gridlock to define the next few years. She also shares her perspective on how the growth of AI data centers could factor into the policy landscape.

Liz and Libby then turn to discuss Social Security. Could Social Security cause a political domino effect? And what role could it play as the political conversation shifts toward the 2028 presidential election?

This episode is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.

The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas is a video podcast covering investing, markets, economic trends, portfolio strategy, and the biggest stories shaping investors today.

About SoFi®: A finance company that could help you get ahead. Get Your Money Right® with SoFi.

Additional resources:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Investing Guide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Information you need to know to make your money work harder for you.

How Wall Street Went From Fighting Crypto To Embracing It Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Cryptocurrency used to be positioned as an alternative to Wall Street. Now? Wall Street is increasingly embracing the technology behind it.

Zack Guzman – Founder of Trustless Media and Host of Coinage, a crypto and Web3 podcast – joins us on The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas this week to share his perspective on how crypto has evolved from a disruptive idea to an institutional asset class.

You’ll hear Zack’s take on Bitcoin ETFs and why Wall Street is embracing tokenization. He and Liz also explore some potential futures of blockchain technology and how it may reshape the financial systems investors use today.

Then, Liz and Zack turn to AI. As agentic AI becomes capable of making financial decisions, could AI agents transact directly with one another on a blockchain – without a human executing the trade? And what role do regulators have in this future state?

This episode is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.

The Important Part: Investing with Liz Thomas is a video podcast covering investing, markets, economic trends, portfolio strategy, and the biggest stories shaping investors today.

About SoFi®: A finance company that could help you get ahead. Get Your Money Right® with SoFi.

Additional resources:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Investing Guide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Information you need to know to make your money work harder for you.

From Copper to Coffee: What’s Driving Commodities in Today’s Market Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

Commodities span far beyond gold. From precious metals and energy to agriculture, they can offer investors another way to think about markets and portfolio diversification.

Kathy Kriskey, Head of Alternatives Product Strategy at Invesco, joins SoFi Chief Market Strategist, Liz Thomas this week to share her take on today’s commodities market and explore what’s happening beyond the usual suspects, from copper to coffee. Kathy dives deep into her view on the relationship between copper demand and the growth of AI data centers. She also explores how weather events such as El Niño could affect agricultural commodities and food prices.

Throughout the conversation, Kathy offers her outlook on current trends, including why she considers silver the “meme stock” of precious metals. She explains the thinking behind “Doctor Copper” as a potential indicator of broader economic activity and discusses the role diversification can play within commodities.

This episode is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.

Additional resources:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Investing Guide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Information you need to know to make your money work harder for you.

Today’s Housing Market Explained: What Comes Next? Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

Housing prices are through the roof, mortgage rates are high and rents continue to climb. So what’s driving today’s challenging housing market?

This week, Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, joins SoFi Chief Market Strategist Liz Thomas to break down the forces shaping today’s housing market. Jonathan shares his perspective on where homebuyers are finding available inventory and why some long-held assumptions about the housing market may no longer apply. He also gives his view on how federal policy could affect home prices and why new construction alone may not solve the housing supply problem.

So what does this all mean for Millennials and Gen Z trying to enter the housing market? How are Boomers helping their kids enter the market? Where does the Sandwich generation fall in all this? They get into all of that and more.

This episode is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.

Additional resources:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Investing Guide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Information you need to know to make your money work harder for you.