The Consumer Sentiment vs. Consumer Spending Puzzle
The episode explores why U.S. consumer spending remains strong despite very low consumer sentiment and several economic headwinds like high interest rates, inflation, and tariffs. Using detailed credit card data, economist Dieran Patkey shows that high-income households are driving much of the growth in spending, effectively propping up the economy. Economist Peter Atwater argues that this creates a top-heavy, "K-shaped" economy and a fragile, illusionary sense of broad prosperity that is vulnerable to shocks in financial markets.
6 Lessons I Wish I Knew in My 20's & 30's (This Will INSTANTLY Give You Direction!)
Jay Shetty, speaking directly to people in their 20s and 30s, shares six psychological and life lessons about loving the process over results, distinguishing your inner voice from external noise, and separating success from happiness. He explains how real confidence is built through self-trust and small follow-throughs, why most rejection is statistical rather than personal, and how healing often feels messy and disorienting even as your brain and nervous system genuinely change. He frames the 20s as a training ground of "firsts" and identity disruption, encouraging listeners to treat confusion and failure as emotional data and practice rather than proof of inadequacy.
TIP770: Mastering the Markets w/ Andrew Brenton
Host Clay Fink interviews Andrew Brenton of Turtle Creek Asset Management about why he believes public markets have become less efficient and how that shapes his value-oriented investing approach. They discuss Cliff Asness's "The Less Efficient Market Hypothesis," behavioral biases, bubbles, and the impact of passive flows and short-termism. Brenton then walks through Turtle Creek's investment theses and valuation approach for Floor & Decor and Kinsale Capital, and explains how he thinks about cyclicality, intrinsic value, portfolio optimization, and sticking with a high-active-share strategy through periods of underperformance.
TIP765: What the World's Great Philosophers Can Still Teach Us About Wealth and Wisdom w/ Kyle Grieve
Host Kyle Grieve explores how ideas from major philosophers can improve investing decisions, emotional control, and definitions of success. Drawing on Ethan Everett's book 'The Investment Philosophers', he connects thinkers like Spinoza, Nietzsche, Hume, Voltaire, Pascal, William James, Baudrillard, Schopenhauer, Montaigne, Kierkegaard, Camus, Martin Buber, and Bruce Lee to practical investing mindsets and behaviors. The episode blends philosophical concepts with real investing examples from Kyle and well-known investors such as Warren Buffett, Howard Marks, George Soros, and David Einhorn.
TIP763: Investing Lessons for My 18-Year-Old Self w/ Clay Finck
Host Clay Finck delivers a solo episode structured as a letter to his 18-year-old self, sharing 12 key lessons from his investing journey, including starting early, using index funds, focusing on great businesses, and managing emotions. He explains why beating the market is difficult but possible, how patience and time horizons create an edge, and why moats, management quality, and megatrends matter more than simple valuation metrics like P/E. The episode also covers investor psychology, avoiding unnecessary complexity, building a peer network, and developing an independent, process-driven investment philosophy that fits one's personality and goals.
#830: Nick Kokonas and Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize Laureate - Realistic Economics, Avoiding The Winner's Curse, Using Temptation Bundling, and Going Against the Establishment
Tim Ferriss, Richard H. Thaler, and Nick Kokonas discuss how traditional economics models people as perfectly rational, selfish agents and why that vision breaks down when confronted with real human behavior. Thaler traces the origins of behavioral economics through stories and experiments on loss aversion, fairness, mental accounting, and self-control, showing how these insights improve predictions and policy in areas like retirement savings, pricing, and investing. They also explore the winner's curse in auctions and sports drafts, the power of nudges and temptation bundling, and Thaler's collaborations with Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, including a candid conversation about Kahneman's decision to end his life through assisted dying.
TIP759: The Art of Spending Money w/ Morgan Housel
Host Clay Fink interviews author Morgan Housel about his book "The Art of Spending Money, Simple Choices for a Richer Life," focusing on how money intersects with happiness, expectations, and independence. They discuss why more money only increases happiness under certain psychological conditions, the dangers of status-driven spending and social debt, and why contentment and autonomy matter more than sheer net worth. In a closing segment, Clay shares his own biggest lessons from the book, including using savings to buy optionality, the power of contrast, and the hidden costs of tying identity to possessions.
Financial Expert: Passive Income Is A Scam! Post-Traumatic Broke Syndrome Is Controlling Millions!
Stephen and Morgan Housel discuss why most financial advice focuses on saving and investing while almost nothing is said about how to spend money in a way that actually improves life. Morgan explains the psychology behind spending, status, envy, trauma around money, and argues that true wealth is more about independence and contentment than income or possessions. They also challenge the myth of passive income, explore inequality and social media's impact on expectations, and examine how to minimize future regret through clearer values and better decisions.
The Best Financial Advice You'll Ever Hear
Mel Robbins interviews financial author Morgan Housel about why financial success is primarily about behavior, expectations, and patience rather than income, education, or math. They explore how comparison, moving goalposts, and status-driven spending keep people broke, and contrast that with using money as a tool for independence and contentment. Housel lays out simple, practical habits-like checking your accounts daily, saving something every time you're paid, and investing patiently-that anyone can adopt regardless of starting point.
TIP755: My Process for Finding Great Investments w/ Kyle Grieve
Host Kyle Grieve shares his personal investing philosophy, tracing how early speculative losses in cryptocurrencies led him toward disciplined value investing in equities. He explains his return goals, focus on absolute rather than relative performance, a two-bucket framework (quality compounders and microcap inflection-point stocks), detailed criteria for evaluating management and capital efficiency, and his sell and portfolio management rules. Kyle also covers concepts like circle of competence, behavioral biases, environment design for inaction, and reflects candidly on mistakes of commission and omission to illustrate how he continues refining his process.
(#1) Elise's Top Ten: The psychology of your future self | Dan Gilbert
Host Elise Hu introduces TED Talks Daily's first curated playlist of her top 10 TED Talks and sets up a 2014 talk by Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert. Gilbert explains the "end of history illusion," the tendency for people at any age to underestimate how much they will change in the future in their values, personalities, and preferences. He presents research evidence, illustrates how this illusion distorts long-term decisions, and concludes that change is the one constant in our lives.