Should you borrow money to magnify returns in your 401 (k), IRA, or other tax-deferred retirement account?

We examine Basic Capital, which allows investors to leverage their retirement account investments.

We also explore how the wealthy don't use debt to generate wealth but to manage it.

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Show Notes

Basic Capital

This 30-Year-Old’s Startup Is Bringing Leverage to 401(k) Savers by Suzanne Woolley—Bloomberg

This startup is offering mortgages for 401(k)s by Liz Hoffman—Semafor

Startup Failure by Elizabeth Pollman—SSRN

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353: The Pros and Cons of Infinite Banking and Whole Life Insurance

238: The U.S. Is More Socialist Than Denmark Regarding Home Mortgages

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As Baby Boomers continue to retire, some analysts expect financial markets to feel the strain. We examine whether demographic shifts truly shape stock and bond returns, or what other factors matter more.

Topics covered include:

• Will retiring baby boomers lead to lower stock prices or higher interest rates
• Some earlier demographic predictions and how they worked out
• How do natural interest rates reflect the demand and supply of capital
• Why demographics are only one factor that determines economic growth and financial market returns

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Show Notes

Zeihan

Harry Dent

Measuring the Natural Rate of Interest—Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Distribution of Household Wealth in the U.S. since 1989—The Federal Reserve

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487: Are We Heading for a 2030s Depression? Global Economic and Population Shifts

445: From Boom to Bust—Why China’s Stocks Lagged Behind Its Economy & Where to Invest Next

395: How Population Trends Will Impact Growth, Inflation, Investing and Well Being

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David converses with best-selling author David Bach about preventing burnout through sabbaticals, moving to another country, why retirees should take Social Security as early as possible, and Bach's idea of a flat tax on IRA distributions.

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Show Notes

David Bach's IRA Flat Tax Idea

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506: Should You Retire Early and Live Outside Your Home Country? With Joshua Sheets

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Can you really make money sports betting on low-risk, high-probability events?

Topics covered include:

• The growing size and influence of the U.S. sports betting market
• Recent sports betting scandals
• How sports betting odds work
• An intriguing low-risk approach to sports betting
• Why the low-risk sports betting approach is still gambling with a negative expected return
• Behavioral biases that encourage sports betting
• Revisiting the difference between investing, speculating, and gambling

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Show Notes

https://info.lowstressbets.com/

How Do Betting Odds Work? by OC Staff—oddschecker

Senate Commerce Committee Wants Answers on NBA Gambling Scandal—Senate Commerce Committee

"US sports betting crisis grows as MLB’s Clase and Ortiz indicted over alleged rigged pitches" by Tom Lutz—The Guardian

ESPN Will Not Let Failure Push It Out Of The Gambling Business by Chris Thompson—Defector

22% of All Americans, Half of Men 18-49, Have Active Online Sports Betting Account—Siena University Research Institute

A Review of Sports Wagering & Gambling Addiction Studies Executive Summary—National Council on Problem Gambling

How sports gambling took over prediction markets in the US by Sam Learner, Oliver Roeder and George Steer—The Financial Times

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What’s the difference between hoarding and investing? There’s a reason markets built on productive assets—like stocks and bonds—are far larger than hoarding markets such as gold and cryptocurrency. In this episode, David explores why that is, and shares why he recently bought Zcash, and how it’s both similar to and different from Bitcoin.

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Show Notes

Zcash

CoinGecko

The Largest Companies by Market Cap in October 2025—The Motley Fool (Accessed October 2025)

DOJ Seizes $15 Billion in Bitcoin as U.S. and U.K. Target Massive Southeast Asian Crypto Scam Network—Chainalysis

Selling Gold in the Diamond District - Money for the Rest of Us Substack

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532: Should Private Assets, Gold, and Crypto Be Investment Options in 401k and other Defined Contribution Plans?

513: Crypto—Innovation or Insanity? Meme Coins, Hacks, and Strategic Bitcoin Reserves

432: Are the Economy and Financial Markets Zero-Sum Games?

496: Are You Taking Enough Aspirational Risk?

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How AI gets simple finance wrong, and how to make it work for you, not mislead you

Topics covered include:

• How AI ignores the time value of money
• A detailed example of ChatGPT misleading by making a simple math mistake
• Some examples of opportunity costs and sunk costs when making financial decisions
• Understanding how AI works can help us use it more effectively

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Show Notes

What Kind of a “PhD-level Expert” Is ChatGPT 5.0? I Tested It. by Gary Smith—Mind Matters

Top US Army General Says He’s Letting ChatGPT Make Military Decisions by Joe Wilkins—Futurism

Why Language Models Hallucinate by Adam Tauman Kalai, Ofir Nachum, et al—Arxiv

Auto Loan Calculator—nerdwallet

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538: Forests, Fakes, and the Fight for the Real

457: AI’s Fork in the Road: Societal Bliss or Existential Threat

450: How Higher Interest Rates Alter Our Financial Blueprint

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Are gold and silver up more than 50% in 2025 because investors fear currency debasement, or is this rally just the latest meme trade? In this episode, we explore the supply and demand forces behind gold and silver, discuss investing strategies, and outline what to watch to see if investors truly are worried about debasement.

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Show Notes

The Great Debasement Debate Is Rippling Across World Markets by Ruth Carson, Naomi Tajitsu, and Masaki Kondo—Bloomberg

How long will gold mania last?—Financial Times

Dalio Echoes Griffin in Seeing Gold as Safer Than the US Dollar by Alexandra Semenova, Natalia Kniazhevich, and Lisa Abramowicz—Bloomberg

Gold Reserves by Country—World Gold Council

Gold's rise in central bank reserves appears unstoppable by Jamie McGeever—Reuters

Above-ground stock—World Gold Council

Gold Demand Trends: Q2 2025—World Gold Council

Treasury Term Premia—Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Trey Reik—LinkedIn

Investments Mentioned

iShares Gold Trust (IAU)

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD)

SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust (GLDM)

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How to decide when to invest in municipal bonds versus new tax-efficient bond ETFs that don't invest in munis.

We analyze several newer ETFs that earn bond-like returns while avoiding paying taxable income distributions.

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Investments Mentioned

Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond ETF (VTEB)

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF)

JPMorgan Ultra-Short Municipal Income ETF (JMST)

Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box ETF (BOXX)

F/m Compoundr U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (CPAG)

F/m Compoundr High Yield ETF (CPHY)

NEOS Enhanced Income Aggregate Bond ETF (BNDI)

NEOS Enhanced Income 1–3 Month T-Bill ETF (CSHI)

Show Notes

US municipal bond defaults and recoveries, 1970-2022 by Moody's Investor Service—Fidelity

Five Reasons Municipals Have Rarely Defaulted by Matthew Norton—Bernstein

470 Plus: Annuities Correction, Europe versus U.S. Value Stocks, Analyzing BOXX, and Accredited Investor Rules—Money for the Rest of Us

Cboe:BOXX | Investment case—alpha architect

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