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Why is personal finance so complicated? Even worse, the Internet is full of personal finance “experts” providing short-sighted, error-prone, and outright bad financial advice. Jesse Cramer has a knack for using everyday experiences to make personal finance accessible for the average investor. His extensive research coupled with skilled narrative makes personal finance actually enjoyable. By day, Jesse works for a fiduciary wealth management firm in Rochester, NY. By night, he runs The Best I ...
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Jesse opens the show by sharing a personal anecdote about a former teacher's challenging investment choices, which were burdened with high fees from their financial advisor. He emphasizes the predatory nature of the financial advice teachers receive, encouraging teachers to seek better investment options from reputable firms like Vanguard and Fidel…
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Today, Jesse helps us step out of our financial frame and see the broader context of our lives. Quoting from David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” speech, he highlights our self-centered bias and makes suggestions on how we can gain greater perspective through the support of those around us. In his monologue, Jesse also notes Charlie Munger’s beli…
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Back with another AMA, Jesse tackles your questions on employee stock incentives, diversification, how taxes affect investments, and more! Our first question comes from Lynn, who asks about when to take Social Security, which opens up a broader discussion on optimal timing for retirement benefits. While she and her husband initially planned to wait…
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Jesse explores the intricacies of student loan forgiveness, highlighting the fallacy that loans can simply vanish without consequence. He argues that the financial burden ultimately falls on taxpayers and critiques the notion that the U.S. government can "magically" eliminate student debt. Jesse explains the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) p…
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Referring back to his article, Fundamentals Of Retirement: Is the Summit “Good Enough?”, Jesse uses an experience hiking in the Adirondack Mountains as a metaphor to explore retirement preparedness. He recounts how being poorly equipped for a challenging hike can mirror the pitfalls of entering retirement without thorough planning - you might reach…
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In today’s opening monologue, Jesse explores the concept of Sequence of Returns Risk, a crucial and often misunderstood threat to retirees, by illustrating how poor returns early in a retirement can severely impact long-term stability. He emphasizes the importance of diversification. Jesse then introduces the idea of path dependence, drawing parall…
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In today’s AMA, Jesse delves into various financial dilemmas and strategies to maximize benefits and secure a stable retirement. The first question comes from Mindy, a 50-year-old widow, weighing the pros and cons of remarrying due to its potential impact on her survivor benefits. Jesse explains the complexities of Social Security spousal and survi…
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Jesse starts by sharing two of his blog posts in today’s monologue. The first post, “The Answers are Here, But…”, expands on William Gibson’s quote, “The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed, yet.” Jesse draws a connection between Gibson’s quote and the distribution of financial literacy, explaining that The Best Interest is par…
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Jesse begins today's episode with two reflections. First, he talks about the rarity and preciousness of gathering all your loved ones in one place. While money is important, it is ultimately a means to gain the freedom to spend time with those you care about. In his second reflection, Jesse recounts the story of his parents' neighbors' house catchi…
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Jesse starts this episode with a confession: money still stresses him out. The four ways that Jesse reduces this stress are remembering what’s going right financially, prioritizing spending, working hard, and remembering that others have walked this path. Then, with another call back to his blog, Jesse invokes Marshall McLuhan’s quote “the medium i…
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Jesse begins today’s episode with a short monologue on the highs and lows of money. Can money buy happiness? Or are they uncorrelated? Either way, money can certainly buy flexibility and optionality. Jesse collects insights from Thom Yorke, Matthew Killingsworth, Danny Kahneman, and Angus Deaton. Today’s guest is Jonathan Clements, the founder and …
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On today’s episode, we bring you something a little different. Jesse’s collected a series of questions from newsletter subscribers and will answer them in today’s AMA (Ask Me Anything). Jesse answers into which accounts young people should be putting their money. Other questions answered are: Is getting to your “Coast FI” a good idea? How to balanc…
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Jesse starts this episode discussing his “50/50 rule” of college savings. Jesse also talks about 529-to-Roth conversions (why they’re overrated!), the FAFSA, and other financial tools at our disposal for college planning. Evan Giokas then joins the show to dive deeper into a college admissions conversation. Evan is the founder of The College Confid…
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In episode 79 of The Best Interest Podcast, host Jesse Cramer discusses the intricate relationships between health, wealth, and time with guest Phil Pearlman. Jesse starts with his usual monologue, explaining and establishing that health, money, and time are all interchangeable resources that many people trade-off throughout their lives. Jesse and …
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Jesse starts this episode with an engaging monologue: how exactly does The Best Interest generate revenue? Jesse answers this question and asks YOU for your help in ensuring The Best Interest continues as a terrific free financial resource. And then Justin Peters joins for the second half of the episode. Justin hosts The Struggle is Real, a podcast…
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Peter Lazaroff is the host of The Long Term Investor podcast and serves as the Chief Investment Officer at PlanCorp, a registered investment advisory in St. Louis. On today’s show, Jesse and Peter talk about the cognitive challenge of investing at all-time highs. It’s normal to feel like a crash might be coming; but it always feels that way, and yo…
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Jared Dillian is a former Wall Street trader at Lehman Brothers, an author of 4 books, and daily writer a newsletter for financial professionals called The Daily Dirtnap. He’s sharp, witty, and brings great energy to today’s conversation. In this episode of The Best Interest Podcast, we learn about "The Allegory of the Sandwich" and how you can pay…
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Paula Pant writes, podcasts, and speaks on financial independence, money management, and financial literacy. As the host of the Afford Anything Podcast, Paula has racked up more than 30 million downloads, ranking the show among the Top 50 Business Podcasts on Apple Podcasts. In this episode we learn how Paula realized she could travel the world on …
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Brian Feroldi is a prolific creator in the financial education space, having written over 3000 articles for the Motley Fool, published a book, “Why Does The Stock Market Go Up?”, and actively posting to his YouTube Channel. In this episode, Brian breaks down his checklist for what makes a company worth investing in and provides some insight into wh…
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Joe Saul-Sehy is one of the hosts of Stacking Benjamins, which is one of the most listened-to podcasts in the personal finance space. In this episode, we discuss how to find a good financial advisor, how to chase time (not money), and even how to decide what your top priority is in life. If you’re looking for an educational listen with plenty of la…
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Today’s show features Doug Cunnington, one of the hosts of the financial independence podcast Mile High FI. Doug highlights how he took conservative risks along the way to FI, and walks us through his career journey to financial independence. We discuss misconceptions about the FIRE movement, how to prepare for financial emergencies, and why it’s n…
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Diania Merriam is the founder of the EconoMe Conference, an exclusive gathering for the FIRE community (financial independence, retire early). Inspired by FIRE, Diania hit an impressive 60% savings rate and retired at 33. Of course, in retirement, you’ve got to stay active; what’s the point of financial freedom if you’ve got nothing to do? Diania j…
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Jeremy is the voice behind Personal Finance Club, a community of champions of the individual investor dedicated to bringing accessible financial education to all. The Personal Finance Club believes financial education improves lives and it should be taught in school. You might have seen Jeremy and Personal Finance Club on Instagram where he posts e…
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529 Plans Aren’t Worth It?! (And Other Important Tax Thoughts) | Sean Mullaney aka The FI Tax Guy - E69
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Sean Mullaney is the FI Tax Guy (FI = Financial Independence). He’s a financial planner and the president of Mullaney Financial and Tax Incorporated which offers fiduciary, fee-only, and advice-only financial planning. In this episode, Jesse dives deep on capital gains taxes, while Sean and Jesse dissect the Roth vs. Traditional debate, the efficac…
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Rose Lounsbury is a keynote speaker, an Amazon bestselling author, simplicity coach and the still-sane mom of triplets. She helps overwhelmed people create open spaces in their homes, their workspaces, and more importantly in their minds by letting go of the excess stuff that gets in the way. In today’s episode, Rose teaches us why towels are a gre…
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Today, Jesse shares some financial lessons from humble beginnings. There’s much to learn from his first entrepreneurial endeavor: a baseball concession stand. Then, Andrew Giancola joins the pod to share his “Hero’s Journey,” from a bottom point where he found himself unable to afford a fill-up of gasoline. Andrew has thoughts about peoples’ bigges…
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In the day-to-day hustle of parenting, thinking long-term, especially regarding finances, is often challenging. With studies showing an estimated cost of over $300,000 to raise a child from birth to age 18 (excluding college expenses), addressing your monetary matters becomes utterly crucial before you embark on parenting. Today, Jesse sits down wi…
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Do you see yourself dying on top of a pile of gold like Scrooge McDuck? Today’s guest, Chris Hutchins, shares his story of how he balances hacking his life: credit cards, chores, out of the box thinking, you name it, with keeping his end goals in mind. But, first, Jesse recounts his travels. He may have learned a lesson or two from the busy street …
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Nonillion… That’s a number so big, I hadn’t heard it before recording this episode. Should you budget and track every single dollar you spend? Should you put 10 percent of your income into your 401k? These are just two of the typical questions I get asked when it comes to money management. In fact, when you think about the hundreds of decisions the…
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How do you know when you are taking the right financial road? Should you prioritize saving money to be better off in the future? Or is it more beneficial to ensure you are using money as a resource for happiness in the present? Our guest today, Carl Jensen, has chosen the first option for the majority of his life, using money not as a resource for …
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Today on the podcast, we have a fascinating guest. He's a gentleman by the name of Fritz Gilbert. He runs a blog called The Retirement Manifesto. As you might guess from the name of Fritz's blog, it's all about retirement. Now, yes, Fritz covers the nuts and bolts, the numbers of retirement, but we talk even more regarding the softer side of retire…
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What exactly does it mean to live a regret free life? Our guest today, Jordan Grumet aka Doc G, shares the observations he’s made as a hospice doctor. We get into a discussion about how money is a mirage. Many people view it as this big important thing, but in reality it’s just a construct. It helps us achieve other things, and it's those other thi…
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Today, I’m going to share the five false proxies leading people astray in their financial goals. In fact, what if I told you a recent study revealed your $1 million investment principal was more likely to quadruple than remain flat even after decades of enjoying a 4% withdrawal rate? Would you rethink your saving strategy? Would you consider passin…
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What kind of mood would you find yourself in if a tree fell onto your house? Would it ruin your day? Our guests might have something to say about that… Joining me today are two of the most outrageously optimistic, enthusiastic experts in personal finance, Joel O'Leary and Joel Laarsgard. I’ll often have clients come in and say, “Jesse, we really wa…
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Today’s episode starts in Minnesota, during an experiment where young men were intentionally starved. They knew starvation would affect their body, but were shocked by how it affected their brains. We then travel to Johnsonburg, a small town in Pennsylvania, where an unexpected event involving deer and a newly constructed bridge made headlines. Did…
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You might’ve seen it on the nightly news or read it in the morning paper, but things got a little tense on Capitol Hill leading into Memorial Day weekend. Today we’re going to talk about the debt ceiling crisis that almost happened in the US. Luckily, politicians figured it out, or at least kicked the can down the road. So, what does that mean for …
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Investing can be stressful. We worry when our accounts are going down and grow overconfident when our accounts are going up. So how do we find a good baseline? Surprisingly, one of the answers has to do with chess and a Chinese emperor. Sit back and let Jesse improve your investing mindset as he explains 7 intriguing stories and facts about how the…
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Time is coming for us all, and according to one survey, 73% of adult children haven’t had detailed conversations with their parents about their parents’ finances. In fact, many of them don’t know how to even start the discussion. Today, on The Best Interest Podcast, Jesse explains a few ways to bring up this conversation, gather information, and de…
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Today, we explore the concept of FIRE, a community of individuals dedicated to the principles of achieving financial independence and early retirement. Jesse plays devil’s advocate against FIRE, dives into the nuance of the 4% rule (a widely misunderstood concept in the FIRE community), and demonstrates how to shape financial independence to work f…
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Three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and a couple weekly articles from The Best Interest. Today we explore the intersection of two of the most important components of personal finances, taxes and investing and why you might save thousands of dollars off your tax bill. Jesse tackles the topic of taxes from a few different angles: the most…
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Uncle Jim is certain Tesla stock is about to go up. He’s been right before. I mean he’s also been wrong, but only when something unpredictable happened. So, should we trust Uncle Jim knows what he’s talking about? Well, I’m confident the average “Uncle Jim” is way too overconfident. Larry Swedroe says the biggest risk to most investors is staring t…
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Why is personal finance so complicated? Even worse, the Internet is full of personal finance “experts” providing short-sighted, error-prone, and outright bad financial advice. Sure, we all need the basic advice - investing 101, budgeting, how to avoid financial frauds. But then there’s the more complicated stuff… What happened at Silicon Valley Ban…
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If a guy from Facebook messages you about whole life insurance more than your mom texts you, it's time to be suspicious. He may have more interest in your wallet than your well-being. But not all insurance is bad. Insurance is meant to protect wealth, not create it, and anyone who’s crashed their car or broken their clavicle knows this to be true. …
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Bank runs, collapses, and bailouts. Anyone else getting GFC PTSD? The Silicon Valley Bank collapse is the largest bank collapse since the 2008 Great Financial Crisis,, and the second largest U.S. bank collapse ever. So, why did it happen? Will this spark a larger contagion throughout the banking sector and the U.S. economy, and should everyday save…
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So what did Warren Buffett mean by silver tongued demagogues and slaying dragons? Jesse sits down with Rob Bradley, a fellow Berkshire Hathaway shareholder and CFP in Rochester, NY, to discuss the wealth of knowledge behind Berkshire Hathaway’s latest annual letter to shareholders. Buffett is widely regarded as one of the greatest investors of all …
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Truth be told, personal finance is simple. There’s only a small number of foundational rules and a sprinkle of middle school math involved. But our natural human short-comings make personal finance difficult to enact. So, how can we overcome the biases and behaviors that prevent us from successfully achieving our financial goals? Jesse simplifies p…
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While the idea of living in a meritocracy is desirable, as it rewards those who do better, is it prevalent in today’s society? With 25% of American households making less than $30,000 a year, do billionaires really offer 200,000 times the merit than them? At what age do we start to blame the poor kid, a victim of bad luck his entire life, for his p…
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2022 was a unique year for investors. Let’s compare last year’s bond and stock performances with historical trends to paint a bigger picture. Looking ahead to 2023 and beyond, there are reasons to be optimistic. Next, underneath all the snow, there’s a cold lesson that came from the unexpected events of the Buffalo blizzard. Hear Jesse’s firsthand …
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Big thanks to Justin Peters, from The Struggle is Real podcast, for allowing me to share this episode. A few months ago, Justin and I sat down to discuss helping young adults with their personal finances. We had a great conversation, which I want to share with you in its entirety! If you’re curious to learn more, check out Justin’s Show Notes below…
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FTX has been dominating the news. But what’s a simple explanation of what happened? Jesse explains the sudden rise and fall of the FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. Jesse shares a tough honeymoon delay as a reminder: it’s important to build in margin for unexpected events, because some things are out of our control. Social media is addictive …
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