Podcasts about peak wealth management

2 hour and 18 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Wisconsin Starts at 1:00 Are Michigan fans turning beet red or was it just hot? This game looks better on rewatch and followed the preview fairly closely. Bryce Underwood took a leap forward in this game, he has the occasional accuracy issue and isn't testing the middle of the field, but he's starting to hit guys downfield. Andrew Marsh and Donaven McCulley also took a huge lea. This is encouraging considering Goodwin was barely targeted, Semaj has been having catching issues, and Frederick Moore is off the team. You can rotate most positions but not the wide receivers. Russel Bellamy has been getting unfairly judged for the receivers. Wisconsin has a very good rush defense and Michigan put up pretty good numbers. Underwood needs to get the ball out a little quicker. Sprague will grade out negatively but he generally does it well when he knows the right assignment. The offensive line is young, they need some time to get better. Lindsey plays off the screen game really well. Has Michigan gotten a holding call all year on defense? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs Wisconsin Starts at 39:33 10 points from the opposition but three came from a sad field goal. They barely got to 200 yards of offense until "kill the clock mode". Rod Moore being back instantly makes this defense much better. Don't rotate him and just keep him on the field all game? Zeke Berry is back from injury, he missed a tackle but was otherwise fine. This defense seems like they miss a lot of tackles but we're comparing it to the best defense in recent school history. Jimmy Rolder was in his element, one time he almost picked up a fullback and threw him. Michigan goes cover zero in a situation that makes no sense. Everyone in the stands keeps turning towards Seth when this happens. Brandyn Hillman is reckless which is helpful sometimes, sometimes it hurts you. Please don't be weird against USC. 3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:05:20 Takes hotter than Michigan Stadium this Saturday. Michigan missed a 27 yard field goal, was it the hold? They did (just barely) block a punt and almost blocked a second one. Hollenbeck was blasting them in this game. What is up with Semaj's punt returns? Is he being told not to take any chances? Should you run a QB sneak on 4th and inches near your own red zone? Luke Fickell is Brady Hoke. They weren't trying to win the game in the 4th quarter, you can't have a six minute field goal drive in this situation. Seth is about to start charting an umpire's spatial awareness. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:34:02 UCLA 42, Penn State 37 UCLA has been awful all season but they looked like the #7 team in the country in Pasadena. James Franklin partially blamed the travel. Coming into this weekend, UCLA never led in any of their four games. In this game they never trailed. Tim Skipper has as many wins over top 10 teams as James Franklin. Penn State was a playoff team but now they have to beat Ohio State to have a chance, Was this the biggest Big Ten upset ever?  Nebraska 38, Michigan State 27 In most weeks this would be the funniest game of the week. Michigan State ran for 2.3 YPC and Chiles threw two interception into Nebraska chests. Their backup looked pretty good so is there a QB controversy?  Washington 24, Maryland 20 Maryland took a 20-0 lead but road Washington dominated October Maryland. Washington is still without their best defensive end, linebacker, and defensive back. Mike Locksley is 0-10 coming out of bye weeks.  Illinois 43, Purdue 27 The Purdue offense is actually functional. Each QB threw for over 300 yards.  Northwestern 42, ULM 7 One day we'll have something to say about Northwestern, but not today. Ohio State 42, Minnesota 3 They let Julian Sayin cook. MUSIC: "Cobra"—Geese "God's Country"—Thomas Dollbaum "How To Kill Houseplants"—Spacey Jane “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Marcus: The Apex Predator THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. Wisconsin Preview: Offense starts around noon. Hiring Phil Longo was one of those WTF decisions that destroyed what remained of Wisconsin's identity. Without one they're just a Big Ten team, even if they did hire Jeff Grives to run the old Wisconsin offense. Billy Edwards is hurt—one drive against Maryland showed he couldn't go—so they're playing Danny O'Neil, the SDSU transfer who's basically Nick Sheridan. OL is a mess, with Riley Mahlman coming in under expectations, Ryan Cory hurt, and RS freshmen starting at three positions. Not impressed with their skill position players either. Need to get pressure with four—blitzing them just allows them to dink it. 2. Wisconsin Preview: Defense starts around 12:15 Mike Tressel was the LBs coach under Dantonio and runs something akin to Dantonio Quarters, though his guys can't run it well. They do have a decent front four, with two good DTs protected by heavy LBs Christian Alliegro and Tackett Curtis (not good). But those guys can't cover, and you can run by Matthew Jung, the SS who adds himself to the run, and their corners are just guys. Want to see Bryce rip these guys apart. 3. Jason Sklar Around Ann Arbor starts around 12:35 The Sklar Brothers are hosting the Letterwinners homecoming event tonight and doing two shows at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase tomorrow night, where you can come up afterwards and give your Hot Takes. We just shoot the shit on Ann Arbor and talk about what comedians get offered to sell out to the Saudis. 4. 2025-26 Hockey Preview starts around 12:50 They have plenty of blueliners—perhaps too many—but not enough forwards. Got more of a mix in the top lines in age, but they're also a lot shorter. Plenty of centers, need TJ Hughes and Michael Hage to continue scoring at a high pace while they bring along some freshmen. Expect Cole McKinney to center a scoring line immediately. One of them (Hughes or Hage) gets Horcoff on the wing after half a young season with him last year. He's one of the best passers and we expect his line to be the top scoring one. Defensively they have depth! And a top four! But there's going be a lot of questions about playing time for the six guys vying to be the third pairing, including a senior captain, two guys who returned that didn't have to, and two freshmen who came to play. As for the backstop, they've got a draft pick freshman again, but he's not Portillo-sized. Featured Artist: Marcus: The Apex Predator The last time we featured reader Kevin Watts's postcore band on this show was right before the last time Wisconsin played before fans at Michigan Stadium. Shea Patterson kept on an arc read deep in Michigan territory to break the game open, and Michigan played Jump Around in the 4th quarter. It's been seven years, but Marcus has a new EP for us. Kevin formed Marcus: the Apex Predator in 2015 with his former drummer from Float Here Forever, Nick Marko. For FHF fans, this is like when Jonah started One Line Drawing to keep making Far songs, except Nick Marko is a drummer whereas Jonah's percussionist was an R2D2 unit. Marcus is a cat. Songs: "Lo-Fi"    "The First Summer"    "Newborn Fossil    Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Nick Hopwood, Certified Financial Planner and founder of Peak Wealth Management, joins The Steve Gruber Show to guide viewers through smart financial strategies as we enter the final quarter of the year. Hopwood discusses the S&P 500's strong performance, historical trends showing Q4 gains, and why earnings growth matters for investors. He also breaks down how to protect your portfolio from potential government shutdowns and offers insights on making the best Social Security decisions based on income, health, and long-term planning. With Nick, it's all about “No lazy money”, making every financial move count. Visit PeakWM.com/GRUBER to get a free social security analysis! LIMITED OPPORTUNITY!

On this feel-good edition of the Trust the Plan Podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP®, and Jim Pilat, CFP®, of Peak Wealth started with some positive market news. The S&P 500 is up double digits year to date, which has happened about 30 times since 1950 and is usually a good sign for the rest of the year. They encouraged listeners to focus on data like this rather than emotions, especially with distractions such as potential government shutdowns. The main topic of the episode was beneficiary IRAs and the strategy they recommend when taking withdrawals. They also discussed the investment risks involved and how proper planning can help manage them effectively. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com  

aka The 2025-26 Men's Basketball Preview, Part 1 2 hours and 26 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. The Backcourt Starts at 1:00 Out: Tre Donaldson, In: Elliot Cadeau, who is a much better creator, and that's what this team needs. Cadeau and the general UNC'ness of North Carolina are hard to separate but he was a five-star who plays hot and should benefit from not having to fight for usage with RJ Davis. Defensively his size puts a cap on what he can do but he gets after it: more Xavier Simpson than Eli Brooks. LJ Cason is the backup point, we guess, though he may defer to Gayle as the on-ball player in those sets just because Cason is more of an off-ball threat than Roddy. Cason was a three-star because he was coming in unready, but could take that huge jump. This year is the freshman Jordan Poole year, not the sophomore Jordan Poole year, IE frustratingly forgivable. Gayle isn't going to shoot 9% in the Big Ten again, but he's what he is at this point: a guy who can get to the rim and create fouls/hit his free throws. We kinda want him coming off the bench since he can fill in for a lot of what any given starter leaves, but isn't a great fit with the other projected starting four. The other wild card is their new five-star. Trey McKenney lost 20 pounds in the offseason so he might not as much of a burly 2/3 as he seemed at OLSM. He's still Gayle at this point in his career, though with some big point upside. Not a one-and-done but should be ready by Tournament time. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Hot Takes, Wings and Frontcourt Starts at 32:15 Starting at the three again will be Nimari Burnett, who is Nimari: a usage soak who is there to end good possessions not start them. He began to show a bit of creation late last season but that only got him from 90% points assisted to 84%. He is very good at what he does, and unlikely to do more. His backups are extra guards, and Winters Grady, who should be Just a Shooter at this stage, and more down the road. Oscar Goodman arrived midseason last year, but he's supposed to need another year of development. Patrick Liburd is the kind of guy we wish was 2 years older right now. At the four is Yaxel Lendeborg, the #1 player in the portal, who is going to be a cross between Danny Wolf and Johni Broome, though not better than either of them. He is very strong and impossible to stop once he has you off your feet, but he's coming from an offense where he had to be the alpha creator every play and he's better as the second option. Can he guard up to three? Probably in the Big Ten; there was some distance at the Combine between him and Wolf in the agility drills, but Yaxel came out like Johni: agile enough to be among the who can play the four in the NBA. Backup to Yax is Will Tschetter, the rarest bird in college basketball these days as a five-year player who stuck around despite the likelihood of less playing time than last year. They were working on making him a shooter on the move. He has to be hidden away defensively, but this lineup has plenty of defenders to do that. Frontcourt is two guys instead of 1.5 now. We are obsessed with the upside of Aday Mara, who is 7'3" with impossible length. He would have had the highest block rate in the country by some distance if he played enough to qualify; he didn't because he got sick (Mono?) but when he returned they had him playing 21 mpg and UCLA got much, much better. Then he got benched. Sometimes he plays soft—was that a sick thing, a Cronin thing? He's also got a soft touch and a good feel for passing. May be as good as Yaxel if he hits his ceiling. Mara's platoonmate, and the probable "starter," is Morez Johnson from Illinois, a crazy rebounder with great ups and shot-blocking ability. Offensively he's a finisher. Defensively there's some hope he can be switchable. Going to make it very hard to go inside and give Michigan an edge from the five that they haven't had since...? 3. How It All Fits Starts at 1:11:34 Can they play the bigs together? Matt D says the NBA is going back to three forwards, and Michigan's best attribute is they're Old North Carolina, where they're just going to out-size everybody. That's doable if they can get Mara to be the player we think he could be, since he can create and so can Yaxel, and you can get away with blow-bys when you have a guy like Mara who blocks shots without leaving the floor. Speaking of floor, this team at worst looks like a four-seed, with considerable upside if a) Mara can play more and maintain his numbers, b) Cadeau cuts down on turnovers, c) Gayle finds his shooting, d) Cason blows up, or e) McKenney blows up. Think they can cut down on turnovers from last year because Wolf just had a bunch that were unforced, and because instead of forcing everything to the rim they can shoot bad twos and rebound them. They also just have more room to pass to. 4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 2:02:19 Oregon 30, Penn State 24 Penn State could do nothing on offense until the 4th Q when they had went on an Oregon-is-exhausted march, then hit a great PA shot. The INT that ended it was that pyramid formation Lanning loves. Frames punted from the plus-36.  Ohio State 24, Washington 6 Went about how you might expect a team whose OL/DL are their issues would go against OSU, IE they got six points out of three red zone trips and then it was 17-6 in the 4th Q and they had to go for it on 4th down. OSU did a great job containing the QB run. Indiana 20, Iowa 15 I know that touchdown; that's the Anthony Carter play!  Iowa had chances to win this but lost their QB near the end and also went Cover Zero one too many times.  USC 32, Illinois 34 This felt like two good teams going at it, though USC was short on guys in the secondary and played bend-don't-break until they either broke or Illinois pulled out a Philly Special. Coulda been a blowout but Illinois fumbled in the endzone twice. Minnesota 31, Rutgers 28 Rutgers hits their program high when they have to play a Big Ten West schedule. Good solid quarterbacking until Athan Kaliakmanis had to face pressure, which is like Pedro Serrano trying to hit a curve. Northwestern 17, UCLA 14 Down 17-0 to Northwestern was probably UCLA's best shot at winning a Big Ten game this year. MUSIC: "Surefire"—Wilderado    "See You Again"—Tyler the Creator "I Believe She's Lying"—Jon Brion “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

2 hour and 26 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Nebraska Starts at 1:00 Is yogurt, honey, and granola a snack? Dave Nastersnacks will give us the answer. Oklahoma was a 24-13 loss but it felt worst than that, this was 30-27 win but it felt better than that (but also worse!). The domination on both lines was more notable than some of the silly, bad things that happened. Between Oklahoma and Nebraska, Michigan hasn't had a complete touchdown drive (but this game had an 8 minute drive to go up by 10). Caveats aside, we're on the verge of saying Greg Crippen is good after he blocked three guys on one play. Running stretch is hard and they're running it quite well. McCulley had a great game but was to blame on Semaj's throw being incomplete. Zero drops otherwise and ran guys over. Everyone else? Not so great. Gotta catch the ball on a slant, get used to passes from Underwood. Should they throw it to Peyton O'Leary? The running backs sure toughened up in this one. Max Bredeson blocks everyone like they're Caleb Downs in the Rose Bowl. Not many Bryce critiques. Catch the ball. Guarnera is just not making mistakes. What's the next good defensive line that Michigan will play, Ohio State? Michigan consistently got a play in, saw the look of the defense, and got a new play in.  2. Defense vs Nebraska Starts at 46:58 Time for a Wink Martindale argument? He doesn't need to do anything fancy. Just run the Iowa defense, you're not going up against an NFL offense. Brandyn Hillman is being asked to do things outside of his base job. 27 points, seven are on Biff, seven are on Hillman taunting, three are on Mangham missing a sack. Otherwise it was pretty good? Raiola was getting sacked every other play. Too many safeties missing sacks. Complaining aside, they got to the quarterback a lot and tackled well. Sanders has been playing a lot and there haven't really been any negative feelings about him. Wink would be a better poker player than Mike Debord but not as good as Jesse Minter. This game felt like Trey Pierce arrived. Cole Sullivan has absolutely emerged, he's little bit of everywhere and has freaky long arms. Defensive backs played well. The Shamari Earls PI was a bit weak. Brandyn Hillman needs to grow up, that was the most obvious personal foul in a minute. Brian usually defends players celebrating and even he says that's an obvious foul. Was it a targeting call at the end of the game? Let's talk about the Hail Mary. Why was TJ Guy dropping? Why was there a spy?  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:25:17 Takes hotter than a Wisconsin fan looking at whatever the shit that was on Saturday. If you're Nebraska, would you go for it on 4th and 2 on the opening drive? Should Michigan have called timeout at the end of the first half? Maybe Sherrone could make a better call here but we can't know that. Zvada hit a 56 yarder and a chip shot to seal it, yay. Punting was okay, how do you recruit punters? What's with Semaj at punt returns? Punt returning has been a problem for a couple years now. Kendrick Bell got the onside! Gary Danielson and Brad Nessler are washed. The turf was a little slippy?  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:51:48 Indiana 63, Illinois 10 This is the most points a top 10 team has been beaten by. This looks like Michigan's boxscore against Central. Cignetti is vindicated. How much is this Indiana being legit and Illinois never being top 10 team? Maryland 27, Wisconsin 10 The boxscore shows a relatively even game, BUT Maryland blocks a punt, field goal, and gets one of the easiest interceptions you've seen. Luke Fickell is done. The boo birds were just apathetic, which is worse than booing. 61 rush yards for Wisconsin on 42 attempts.  Oregon 41, Oregon State 7 Oregon State has fallen on hard times since college football ejected them. This game looked like a controlled scrimmage. Is Oregon really good or just beating up on bad teams? We'll see how Oregon does during a whiteout at Penn State next weekend.  Notre Dame 56, Purdue 30 Purdue's defense is really bad. Purdue is Purdue.  Iowa 38, Rutgers 28 Iowa returns the opening kickoff for a touchdown and could not stop Rutgers' QB. Both teams went up and down the field, what is happening??  USC 45, Michigan State 31 The boxscore looks a little close but MSU gets a 75 yard drive down three touchdowns. Mostly a blowout. The Spartans' defense did not have answers to USC's running game. Aidan Chiles had some explosive plays.  Washington 59, Washington State 24 Another Pacific Northwest rivalry that college football has ruined. Does Washington have the best complete package for skill position players in the conference? We don't trust Ohio State's run game.  MUSIC: "Wave Goodnight"—Jeff Rosenstock "Alien With a Sleep Mask"—Batboys "Big Dipper"—Built to Spill “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

On the Trust the Plan Podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Jim Pilat, CFP® explore the concept of "What's your number?" This refers to the specific amount of money you need to feel comfortable retiring. They explain how identifying this number brings clarity to your financial planning and helps you focus on what truly matters to achieve your goals. It's about understanding what you need to live the life you want and being able to enjoy it guilt-free once you've reached that point. Nick and Jim outline practical steps to reach your number, including intentional saving, investing, and aligning your plan with your values and vision for retirement. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com  

Special Guest: John U. Bacon. The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Karl Kingson THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. Nebraska Preview: Defense starts around 12:15 pm Play a weird nickelized version of the Rock Long 3-3-5 that has a 235-pound former Indiana linebacker at edge and moveable guys who like to get upfield up front. If you get them blocked up correctly there are ways to gash them. The best team to use against them would be 2023 Michigan—definitely think El-Hadi being out will have an effect. Run the QB? 2. Nebraska Preview: Offense starts at noon Dylan Raiola is a year 2 five-star but hasn't taken that next step despite Nebraska spending a lot of money to put talent around him and gave him Air Raid expert Dana Holgorsen, but they weren't that impressive vs Cincy. Their transfer OL haven't worked out, and they're not sure who's their LT. Those receivers are legit though. 3. Interview w John U. Bacon, author of The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald starts around 12:30 pm Bacon has a new book, so we have him on to talk about the haunting story of the Great Lakes' most famous shipwreck, and the lives, loved ones, and Dodge Chargers that were left behind. Pre-Order Link: http://johnubacon.com/ 4. CMU After Review starts when we're done with Bacon They put the air back in the ball. Underwood runs make the whole offense easier. CMU offense wasn't much of a test, but we got to try out the Barham at Edge thing, and want to see it transitioned to the next phase. Also need to talk about QB runs and why Michigan hasn't been able to fit them. Featured Artist: Karl Kingson Karl Kingson is a Detroit-based multidisciplinary artist whose work blends music, film, and visual storytelling into cinematic experiences that move both the heart and the body. With a sound rooted in R&B, pop, and alternative scores, Karl creates songs that feel like stories — romantic, mysterious, and timeless. His debut single STARE exemplifies his vision: a fusion of soulful vocals, striking visuals, and performance art that transforms love into a cinematic universe. Beyond music, Karl is a visionary creative and cultural architect. His projects span bold promotional campaigns, immersive live events, and fashion-forward collaborations, always grounded in the energy of Detroit and the underdog spirit he represents. His brand essence is motivation — inspiring audiences to embrace their value, chase their dreams, and connect through authentic artistry. Songs: "Open Medium"—Karl Kingson "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"—Gordon Lightfoot "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"—Looking Glass Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

On this episode of The Steve Gruber Show, Nick Hopwood, Founder and President of Peak Wealth Management, shares his expert insights on the current state of the financial markets and retirement planning strategies. Nick breaks down the Federal Reserve's upcoming rate cuts, why investors shouldn't stay in cash, and how international indexes are hitting all-time highs despite widespread nervousness. He also revisits the trends following Fed Chair Powell's Jackson Hole speech, explaining how historical patterns show strong returns for investors over the coming year. Nick also covers tax-efficient strategies for Bene IRAs and why having a solid plan, and trusting it, is more important than ever. Listeners can get a second opinion from Nick and his team of CFPs at peakwm.com/gruber

2 hour and 25 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Central Michigan Starts at 1:00 Michigan's biggest blowout since the 2016 Hawaii game. This game was trending towards a total rutger for a while and was a nice palette cleanser. More Biff Poggi interviews, please. Listen for the Chip's chips. Do we think "Sherrone's not here so let's play with the kids"? Who's your Crippen comparison, Andrew Vastardis? David Molk? This is what Bryce Underwood looks like when he's not under siege. What did Bryce see on the interception? He had someone open. One of the special things about Bryce is he can just go and get you 20 yards on the ground. Is he putting a little extra zip on the ball? McCulley had a couple nice catches, other guys need to catch the ball. Running backs did a better job of re-gapping in this game. The offensive line had a nice day with some [redshirt] freshman mistakes. Jadyn Davis played several drives with no passes.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs Central Michigan Starts at 44:32 Couldn't quite get a total rutger but felt like it would for a while. They played a 3-4 for most of this game. Jaishawn Barham found the backfield a lot. Manuel Beigel had some meaningful time in the first quarter. Central Michigan ran a lot of down G. A lot of guys were hurt in this game but backups looked good. Michigan has a little Channing Stribling now. Rolder was up and down but had some good stops. Does Biff even understand Batman's hero abilities work??  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:05:11 Takes hotter than the Georgia Tech radio announcer after the bees hit a fire drill field goal from 50 yards and they SOUNDED EXACTLY LIKE THIS. There's a list of things you can't bring into the stadium but they're handing out versions of the thing! Someone teach the students how to do the wave and when to do it, we didn't even get a fast or slow wave. And not when the game is happening! We like Jake Butt as a commentator. What's Semaj's plan when he's fielding punts? Definitely a sad field goal.  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:38:31 Too many Big Ten teams so notes are reduced. Nebraska 59, Houson Christian 7 Maryland 44, Towsend 17 Penn State 52, Villanova 6 Penn State is struggling to convert on 3rd down on Drew Allar's arm. Rutgers 60, Norfolk State 10 Iowa 47, UMass 7 Indiana 73, Indiana State 0 ISU with 77 total yards, not a total rutger. Oregon 34, Northwestern 14 Most of Northwestern's yards were in the 4th quarter while down 34-0, but Northwestern had a pulse at times. Alabama 38, Wisconsin 14 No Billy Edwards in this game. Wisconsin couldn't do anything, this was a debacle. If they don't beat Maryland, do they get a win the Big Ten? USC 33, Purdue 17 It wasn't particularly close, but Purdue had some long drives (that ended in picks).  Michigan State 41, Youngstown State 24 This was a bit of a game for a little while?? Michigan State was always in control but gave up some big plays. The Spartans lost some starters to injuries. Ohio State 37, Ohio 9 The score looks close but it was not. Ryan Day's decision making kept the scoring low. Illinois 38, Western Michigan 0 Is Illinois really a top 10 team? Which Memorial Stadium is the real Memorial Stadium? California 27, Minnesota 14 A game that was fairly even statistically except for a couple turnovers.  New Mexico 35, UCLA 10 UCLA is BAD bad, and they fired their coach. This was not a fluke. New Mexico got pressure on 52% of Nico's dropbacks. The Big Sky says "no thanks" to adding UCLA. 

On today's episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Jim Pilat, CFP® of Peak Wealth discuss recent market data with a focus on international stocks. After years of underperformance, many investors began to ignore this area completely, often with no exposure at all. So far in 2025, international equities have emerged as a leader, and Nick and Jim explain why they are feeling bullish. They share a chart showing the renewed strength in foreign markets and talk about the Fed's August meeting in Jackson Hole, where potential rate cuts were mentioned, which could be a positive for international stocks. As always, this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a recommendation. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com  

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Jim Cherewick THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things discussable.]  --------------------- 1. CMU Preview: Offense starts at noon They rotate a LOT. Get ready for two offensive lines, three quarterbacks, and a lot of Iowa from the former Army OL coach whose YouTube clinics have been a staple of my learning diet. Fullbacks! 2. CMU Preview: Defense starts around 15:02 MAC version of Hutch, or a poor man's Braden McGregor is Holdman, the SDE who has to play B-gaps because they don't have the size. They're in a 404 Tite and they're aggressive, so expect something like the Army 2019 game. 3. Oklahoma After Review: Offense starts around 26:10 What it looked like on first watch. Frustrating that we don't have answers for Dantonio stuff. Felt like Hoke era offense. OL was okay save for Zack Marshall; he wasn't ready and we missed Marlin Klein. RBs were not pressing gaps, Haynes missed blocks in pass pro. 4. Oklahoma After Review: Defense starts at 44:43 Couldn't fit the QB run game. A lot of that was unbalanced, and Michigan didn't use the same response to that as usual, probably because Jayden Sanders was at corner and they didn't want him to be the free safety. Some Dammit Wink but I expect Guy to chip. Weirdly bad games from Benny, Guy, Moore. A little worried that Tre Williams still thinks he's a Clemson d-tackle.  Featured Artist: Jim Cherewick A local artist, writer, and musician, Jim Cherewick has been involved in a lot of projects around town—Gymsee, False Figures, Best Exes, Piner, Wicker Chairs, and Congress. I discovered him because I liked his watercolors, and then saw he's playing at the Pig with Cattywampus in October so I started checking out his stuff and have been writing to it all week. It's all indie but all sounds different—the best way I can describe it is you start with a guy and a Fender and add a My Bloody Valentine slider that goes all the way up (Congress) or down (Wicker Chairs). I chose a spread to show what I mean. I'm still in discovery mode here but hope you'll join me. Songs: "Death Wagon"—Jim Cherewick "Urgency"—Wicker Chairs "Pile of Me"—Congress Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

1 hour and 48 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs Oklahoma Starts at 1:00 How bothered/upset are you right now? Seth says this game was 2004 Notre Dame. It feels like they're playing for 2027 but you need some momentum if you want to get more wide receivers. You want Bryce Underwood to let it rip but instead the offense played way too conservatively. Michigan didn't keep it close, Oklahoma kept shooting themselves in the foot to keep Michigan in this game. Oklahoma knew Michigan would run a bunch of freshman quarterback plays and blew them all up. It's possible that Michigan didn't drop back much because they offensive line couldn't give Bryce enough time and the coaches knew this. Maybe the coaches are just trying to keep Bryce from getting hurt and that means playing conservatively in a non-conference game. Why are there so many runs and screens on 3rd down? Just throw it on 3rd and long and see what happens. How much of the Jim Harbaugh stuff is sustainable without literally Jim Harbaugh? Sometimes Crippen just isn't strong enough for his assignment.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs Oklahoma Starts at 29:45 That felt like it should've been about 24 points. John Mateer also did some incredible things and came up positive in the random number generator game. Michigan wasn't able to get after Oklahoma's freshman left tackle. There was some cute Wink stuff again that the personnel couldn't execute. He reverted back to some of his ways from early last year. When Oklahoma did run it up the middle the defensive line was what you wanted it to be. Overall, the defense was okay, just not #1 defense in America okay. TJ Guy getting shut down by a true freshman tackle says "we're just not there." Was there much of a difference with and without Jaishawn Barham? Oklahoma seemed to adjust to his absence but Michigan didn't.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 53:11 Takes not quite as hot Billy Napier's hot seat. Number changes must be approved by a sickos committee (unless it is to make the quarterback #98). Michigan elected to kick from the plus 38 yard line, this is indefensible when you have Zvada. The point of being Michigan is that you can get that 4th and 2. Sherrone should be old and young enough to have played Madden from the age of six. Go let Zvada (and all the guys who make plays) go make the plays they're supposed to make. There was no mention of Semaj getting targeted and looking woozie. In case you're wondering the difference between running into the kicker and roughing the kicker... that was roughing the kicker.  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:21:51 Too many Big Ten teams so notes are reduced. Penn State 34, FIU 0 Indiana 56, Kennesaw State 9 Minnesota 66, Northwestern State 0 Minnesota running back Darrius Taylor went out with an injury. Ohio State 70, Grambling 0 Nebraska 68, Akron 0 It should be a little bit easier to run against Nebraska than Oklahoma at least. Wisconsin 42, Middle Tennessee 10 This game was actually close for a while. Wisconsin couldn't run the ball well at all. USC 59, Georgia Southern 20 USC with 11.3 YPP through two games. They have one touchdown per 6.5 snaps. Washington 70, UC-Davis 10 Northwestern 42, Western Illinois 7 Purdue 34, Southern Illinois 17 Illinois 45, Duke 19 Duke is not a terrible ACC team, they outgained Illinois. How valid is Illinois being ranked #11? Duke had five turnovers. Illinois got a first down after Duke had two guys wearing the same number on a punt. Iowa 13, Iowa State 16 This was a perfect rendition of ¡El Assico!. Zero explosive plays between both teams. Neither team got to 300 yards of offense. The same guy kicked the same game winning field goal for the 2nd year.  Rutgers 45, Miami (NTM) 17 Rutgers has scored on 12 of their 16 drives this year. There's a legit passing attack here. Oregon 69, Oklahoma State 3 Mike Gundy complained before the game that Oregon spent a lot of money on their players. Then oh no! Oklahome State is an OSU that looks too much like Oregon State apparently. Michigan State 42, Boston College 40 (2OT) Aidan Chiles can be anything in any given week and this week was Good Aidan Chiles. Is Michigan State's pass defense worse than Fordham's? UNLV 30, UCLA 23 Going to UCLA is telling on yourself. UNLV's first win over a "Big Ten" team in 22 years. Alex Orji's only appearance was one running play. Maryland 20, Northern Illinois 9 Would you rather take the Maryland job or the Virginia Tech job? Would you rather have mayo dumped on you or lose the Mayo Bowl? MUSIC: "What's the Move"—Friendship "After the Flood"—Jesse Woods "Take My Heart"—Florry “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Booster THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things to be said.]  --------------------- 1. Oklahoma Preview: Offense starts at noon It's John Mateer doing Tate Forcier things in an RPO-heavy system that meets its greatest challenge yet in a defense that doesn't give you any easy reads. Can their haphazard OL with one or two true freshman hold up to Michigan's DL? Can Michigan force Mateer into mistakes? Are his receivers enough to get open for him? Fascinating matchup. 2. Oklahoma Preview: Defense starts around 12:20 The other side of our Spiderman Pointing: their defense is Legit. Venables defense is the older cousin of the Don Brown system: it's 50% Don Brown's cover 1, which he calls "Brown" and 50% Dantonio's quarters. The DL get upfield in a hurry and the LBs have to make them right, but there's always a safety or two involved in the run fits to collect when you break outside. Best way to attack it is CJ Stroud and NFL receivers but we're probably not there yet. He has two hybrid OLBs so he doesn't get Devin Gil'd but those guys might be susceptible to some Bredesoning. 3. New Mexico After Review: Offense starts around 12:45 This is where we talk about Bryce Underwood. 4. New Mexico After Review: Defense starts around 1:10 PM This is where we talk about College Crappe. Featured Artist: Booster Detroit born (East side in August 1990), and Detroit educated, Booster was exposed to music from an early age from his artist/performer mother, which you can tell because his music is dripping with 1960s (you'll hear that Motown cooing in All Night Long) and 1970s (the funk in Real City) Detroit, and honed himself at the Detroit School of Arts and the music program at Kentucky State University. He's changed his approach several times in his career, but the throughline is his creativity. A musician's musician, Booster is the guy a lot of local creators get their ideas from—like how all the rock bands in Ann Arbor in my day were obsessed with At the Drive-In. You can read more about him here and check out his socials: Ig: @imyourboost YouTube: imyourboost Facebook: @imyourboost Songs: All Night Long    Box    Real City    Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat

Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Jim Pilat, CFP® kick things off with some excitement as Michigan Football is back and the season is finally underway. There's plenty to be hopeful for on the field, and even more to look forward to in today's feel-good edition of the Trust the Plan Podcast. We're turning our attention to an important topic: scam calls and suspicious emails. Nick shares a personal story about recently getting hacked, reminding us all how easy it is to fall victim and how important it is to stay vigilant. We've seen a rise in scammers pretending to be Charles Schwab representatives, calling clients to try and gather personal information. If you ever receive a call like this, don't engage. Hang up and give us a call directly. We're here to help. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

2 hours and 40 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Offense vs New Mexico Starts at 1:00 When's the last time you've ever seen an offensive lineman run away from a fight? Probably the funniest thing all night. New Mexico came out like they wanted to make a statement for a new era of New Mexico, and they may have an endless well of College Crappe that they can run. Let's talk about Bryce Underwood, it took one game for Brian to become a believer. Bryce just turned 18 but we're making critiques that you would make about juniors and seniors. He's got a thing for parabolic arcs. We're finally seeing the Semaj Morgan we hoped to see when he was a sophomore. The whole stadium stopped and turned to Brian on the play action pass to Max Bredeson. Bryce is very accurate when he can throw in the pocket, if Channing Goodwin hadn't put his hands up the ball would've just gotten stuck in his facemask. They're not running Bryce but then he's throwing a monster block with his throwing shoulder. Offensive line kept Bryce from getting lit up so that's a W, especially against a couple decent transfer edges. So was Justice Haynes worth the price? Overall, Channing Goodwin was encouraging. Fred Moore had a bad drop.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Defense vs New Mexico Starts at 51:04 A little tricky to grade the defense. They gave up some stuff but some of it was aided by the officials. Wink seemed to struggle with the College Crappe a bit, but Ohio State doesn't run that and you need Wink to beat Ohio State. QB Jack Layne was a fearless dawg who kept getting back up all game. Michigan had a lot of rotation all game. Brandyn Hillman hit a guy hard enough that you didn't need Grapentine to tell you who it was, Jyaire Hill got beat. Enow Etta played more than was expected. Seth got deported from the Vatican once. Jaishawn Barham is probably the worst person to get hit by on this team. The defensive line doesn't have a superstar but it's deep like the 2022 line.  3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams Starts at 1:17:56 Takes hotter than Michigan Stadium after Jaishawn Barham got ejected. Michigan punted on 4th and 1 on their own 49, three thumbs down. Andrew Marsh fumbled a kickoff and hesitated on one he brought out but he's a true freshman so it is what it is, it'll get better. Hudson Hollenbeck was fine, there's room for improvement. Discussing the targeting call, note that this was recorded before the "upheld" decision. Oops, we've been pronouncing "Sprague" wrong apparently. Maybe we midwesternized his name.  4. Around the Big Ten with Jamie Mac Starts at 1:58:00 There are too many Big Ten teams so there are fewer notes for some games. Purdue 31, Ball State 0 Maryland 39, FAU 7 The Maryland freshman QB looks pretty decent. Total yardage was somehow even. Penn State 46, Nevada 11 Penn State might be a boring team to watch until they play Oregon. Iowa 34, Albany 7 The Iowa QB was still pretty pedestrian. Oregon 59, Montana State 13 USC 73, Missouri State 13 Welcome to the FBS, Missouri State. Illinois 52, Western Illinois 3 Northwestern 3, Tulane 23 Preston Stone had -42 rushing yards. The Northwestern head coach says to "believe in this quarterback". Indiana 27, Old Dominion 14 This Indiana team feels less explosive compared to last year. Washington 38, Colorado State 21 Jonah Coleman had 177 rushing yards on 24 carries, the Huskies are looking more explosive this season. They could be Pacific Chaos Team but their defense is still suspect.  Utah 43, UCLA 10 "Committing to UCLA is telling on yourself", Nico Iamaleava was 11/22 for 136 yards, 1TD/1INT. UCLA is still who they've been. Utah was 14/16 on 3rd down conversions. Michigan State 23, Western Michigan 6 Michigan State struggled to stop Western's edges. 138 yards in the last nine drives isn't great. MSU did get a 21-0 lead early, though. Rutgers 34, Ohio 31 Not a great start for Rutgers. Overall, an exciting game. Minnesota 23, Buffalo 10 This is much more of a blowout than the score indicates. Minnesota QB is 19/35 for 290 yards (2TD/1INT). Buffalo is a good MAC team, too. Wisconsin 17, Miami (Oh) 0 Billy Edwards is injured and Wisconsin struggled to move the ball. But Miami struggled more. Nebraska 20, Cincinnati 17 Dylan Raiola was 33/42 for 243 yards but it was mostly to the backs. Former Indiana QB Brendan Sorsby was the Cincy QB that threw the final interception. Half the event was that Taylor Swift was here. Ohio State 14, Texas 7 336 yards for Texas, 203 for Ohio State. The Buckeyes can't really run the ball. There was some "oh no" from the Ohio State fans. Texas got stopped four times on 4th down, twice inside the 10. Texas also has two massive facemask penalties. Ohio State also had weird drops from the receivers. When's the last time Ohio State had less than 200 yards of offense? MUSIC: "Sunday Eve"—Bonnie Calista "Spin Me Around"—The Marias "River Song"—Dennis Wilson “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

The Sponsors We want to thank Underground Printing for starting this and making it possible—stop by and pick up some gear, check them out at ugpmichiganapparel.com, or check out our selection of shirts on the MGoBlogStore.com. And let's not forget our associate sponsors: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklar Brothers, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Radecki Oral Surgery, Long Road Distillers, and SignalWire where we are recording this. Featured Musician: Magic Toaster THE VIDEO: [After THE JUMP: Things to be said.]  --------------------- 1. New Mexico Preview: Offense starts at the top They've got a very 2022 Colorado State vibe after importing a Big Sky team. We like their Big Sky RBs better than MSU's. Mikey Keene-ish QB wasn't the reason they gave Oregon trouble. 2. Preview in Review: Defense starts at 11:24 The wily open defensive end is. The rest of lines and their secondary are terrible, save a Bruce Feldman Freak who had six kick return touchdowns in the FCS. 3. Preview in Review: Defense starts at 22:58 We're so into Metcalfs. Shark Teeth mode now with players behind players. Only thing is they don't have so many superstars—just good guys all around. Can Jyaire Hill step forward into one? Benny? Derrick Moore is the one EXTRA guy that we can't lose. 4. Preview in Review: Offense starts at 35:50 Surviving Evan Link. Featured Artist: Magic Toaster Songs: Saturday Night Anything's Fine Blue Night Oberon Also because Across 110th Street will get our Youtubes taken down, the opener and outro: “The Employee is Not Afraid”—Bear vs. Shark “Ruska Vodka”—Motorboat  

Nick Hopwood, Founder and President of Peak Wealth Management, joins to help Americans plan for a secure retirement in today's uncertain economic climate. With over 25 years of experience, Nick breaks down key financial trends, including the Federal Reserve's recent Jackson Hole meeting, potential reductions in Obamacare subsidies, and sequence-of-returns risk. He also touches on market insights that parallel his unique ability to spot trends, much like predicting college football outcomes. For listeners looking to safeguard their retirement, Nick offers a complimentary Roth conversion analysis, just visit peakwm.com/gruber.

On the Trust the Plan Podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP®, and Preston Gee, CFP® of Peak Wealth dive into insights from the J.P. Morgan Guide to Retirement, offering practical ideas and concepts around getting started with saving, preparing for, and living in retirement. They emphasize the importance of evaluating Roth contributions at various life stages, noting that younger investors often benefit most from Roth accounts due to lower current tax brackets, while those in peak earning years may need to weigh traditional vs. Roth options carefully. The discussion encourages listeners to think strategically about retirement planning early on, adapting their approach as financial circumstances evolve. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

2 hours and 13 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Noncon and Big Ten: The Bottom Four Starts at 0:54 New Mexico. Former Wisconsin player who was at Idaho takes over, brings the QB and the DE who gave Oregon problems last year. Keegan Johnson used to play at Iowa. Oklahoma. Spiderman pointing game. Their defense was great and their offense just as terrible. Mateer the savior doesn't have WRs and his OL is highly recruited and young. They spent a lot for Damonic Williams at DT, have a great FS and iffy corners. Punting and arm-punting is winning? CMU. New coach is the former Army OL coach, interesting dude who sends his coaches home at 5pm, got all local coaches because he wants to be there a long time. Got an Iowa QB. #18: Purdue. Odom: Why? Team was falling apart already under Walters and got gutted. Multi-year rebuild. #17: Maryland. Walking Locksley to the gallows season. Inexplicable receiver depth is gone. Jalen Husky (from Bowling Green) and secondary is the relative strength of the defense. How much will Maryland seriously try to compete in this sport or just throw their House money at basketball? #16: Northwestern. The2021 running backs are still there. Caleb Tiernan how do you not come home? Edges Hubbard and Anto Saka (getting draft hype) are good. Dillon Tatum late transfer followed Harlon Barnett. Receivers are gone though. #15: UCLA. Encouraging second half last year, new belief in Deshawn Foster. But they're back to rebuilding from the portal, look like they have to do that every year. Only 2/15 players with 200+ snaps returned. Did get Nico Iamaleava. They have some access to money, but where's it going? Jalen Berger is their RB!   [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. The Big Ten Middle Starts at 34:54 #14: MSU. Defense takes a step back, offense takes a step forward, Aidan Chiles could be a budding star. Jonathan Smith probably didn't understand what kind of fanbase he's walking into. #13: Wisconsin. Is this the last hurrah of Fickell? They dumped the spread and their best player is a huge RT so that's good; their defense is kind of falling apart so that's bad. #12: Rutgers. Schiano has done it: Rutgers is a perennial bowl team! No more Monangai but plenty of parts are back, especially on the OL. #11: Minnesota. High-variance offense, Koi Perich is an All-American. If a few of the transfers hit it's a strong defense. Could win 10 games vs a bad schedule, could also be just fighting for a bowl. #10: Nebraska. Raiola year 2 has a lot of weapons. They really spent to get him some WRs, Dane Key and a contested catch guy from Cal. Still going to be a 3-3-5 but playing tiny. The problem is their DL coach left and took the DL with him. #9: Washington. Only Big Ten RB to return, really like them. Also got back Boston. Upgraded from Stephen Belichick to Ryan Walters at DC, have a dual-threat QB who took over last year. Opposite Michigan: no kicker, weak in the trenches.  #8: Iowa. Mid! Offense improved quite a bit under Tim Lester, rose to 69th in SP+, had fewer wins because that's not Iowa. "We have a quarterback now!" /runs a waggle. #7: Indiana. Cignetti is tough to play for but he was able to rebuild through the portal again with guys who don't have to get to know Cignetti, including a new QB who might be pretty good.   3. The Contenders Starts at 1:10:38 #6: Illinois. Brian is wearing an Illinois shirt after a 10-2 season that was really lucky. Lose their playmakers from a team that was really lucky last year and did most of their work. Paid all these guys to return because they have a very weak schedule. Circle Illinois-Indiana. #5: USC. Ewebwuddy Woves Waymond. Scott Frost season where they lost to Maryland, banking on a massive, sorta overrated 2026 class. Have their choice receivers, have their QB in Maiava, have a magic wand to turn their secondary into poop. (#4 is Michigan) #3: Oregon. Dan Lanning is our top coach in the league but in-game management in Rose Bowl scares us. Doesn't lose bad games. Will be some talent drop-off, do we trust Dante Moore? He's had a year in the program and they didn't import someone. Probably spent the most of anybody in the portal. Bear Alexander at DT is a reason to doubt them; this team has a big potential to come together or completely fall apart with locker room issues. Easy schedule: Play two OSUs but not THAT OSU. #2: Ohio State. Have the best player on offense (Jeremiah Smith) and the best player on defense (Caleb Downs) in the country, but do they have a quarterback? Their OL is kinda iffy, but the LT situation looks like a hit, and then two transfers are battling for RT. Run game is meh, trust the pass game. People underrating how much they lost on the DL, but we like Beau Atkinson pickup. LB and secondary have a ton of talent: Sonny Styles and Igbinosun are back. S&P+ #1 because there's talent everywhere. If you're looking for reasons to hate on Ohio State: Matt Patricia is there to ruin their defense. #1: Penn State. Drew Allar started very low in our eyes, has improved to okay or mid, and then had a great bowl game. RBs can run in a straight line. TE lost Warren. Receiver is a little iffy, but best OL in Franklin's tenure (not saying much). Kotelnicki is a factor in the offense though. Reasons they're not overrated: defense is filled with talent and experience. Think national pundits see last year, see Big Ten teams that returned their quarterbacks and a strong defense won the last two national championships.   4. Hot Takes & Lightning Round Starts at 1:49:41 Takes hotter than this summer. At seven hours of podcasting we are getting loopy but we still answer most important, breakout players, biggest x-factors, who's your dude, and final predictions. MUSIC: "None of My Friends"—Liz Lawrence    "Pages"—Credit Electric "A Cold Sunday"—Lil Yachty “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

2 hours and 8 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. Quarterback Starts at 0:54 Quick rundown of all the options: it's Bryce. Expectations for Bryce: Vince Young as a RS freshman, who doesn't quite know what to do with the ball and gets jumpy when the pressure's on, but you can see the talent. One thing in his favor: he isn't jumpy at all in the pocket, and the overthrows in the Spring Game were out of character. Michigan has to roll with it, but Big Ten average with huge swings. Will he be more like a sophomore by Ohio State perhaps? [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Skill Positions Starts at 35:36 Running back has two really good players and then a drop to ???. On the very goods, we love Jordan Marshall and might be underrating Justice Haynes—he's got a lot of Corum in him. He's also got a lot of experience as a lead blocker for a running QB, but that's probably not what he came here for. WRs are Donaven McCulley and then a big drop to Just-Guys who probably were better than they looked last year. Think Semaj Morgan should be the #2 since he gives you something—F.Moore, Bell, O'Leary just guys, hearing things about the freshmen doesn't give Brian happy feels. Tight end is the strength of the offense. The spectrum goes fullback: Max Bredeson, h-back: Jalen Hoffman, inline: Marlin Klein, flex: Hogan Hansen. Bredeson kickouts force defenders to overcommit, create bounce opportunities. Klein is an underrated blocker (watch the Reliaquest Bowl). Hansen was open last year, Davis Warren was allergic to throwing at him. Hoffman might be Underwood's secret binkie, can run WR routes and block like an OL. 3. Offensive Line Starts at 1:18:36 PLEASE do not activate our rule that if two guys are battling for a job and it's won by a third guy it's a very bad sign. Concerning that OL was an issue, and player evaluation was an issue, when the HC was the OL coach. It's not a hot take that Andrew Babalola is going to start at Ohio State, Brian. If Evan Link gets fixed and Gio El-Hadi truly feels more comfortable at LG that'd be great; the latter is more likely than the former, but they don't have better options so Link to start. Crippen is who he is; if his issues were mental then could see Juan Castillo having an effect, but Crippen is mentally there and just gets physically dominated. RG and RT are two really good stories for the future, as Efobi and Sprague (especially Sprague) are on track for excellent careers. Depth at G. 4. Hot Takes, Special Teams and Chip Starts at 1:46:36 Takes hotter than Sabrina Carpenter. Thank you to the Michigan fan who left Dominic Zvada out of the Groza semifinalists so he would come back to be the best kicker in Michigan history again. Punter…wasn't great last year but it's not like Hudson Hollenbeck was better in the one game we saw him, and attempts to get more guys in the portal is a little concerning. Returns should be Semaj, I'Marion Stewart, and hearing things about the UMass transfer Anthony Simpson. Chip's offense is about building his passing game onto your running game. They'd like to be an outside zone one way/rollout the other way team but they probably can't run outside zone. Need to hit the downfield shots to keep safeties off their screen game; last year they were set up at 7 yards. MUSIC: "Small Worlds"—Mac Miller    "Memo from Turner"—Mick Jagger "Is the Hugeness Translating"—Floating Action “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra   

1 hour and 53 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where record this, and Introducing this season: Radecki Oral Surgery, and Long Road Distillers. 1. We have to talk about the NCAA NOA Starts at 0:54 A great exercise in bad faith, and deeply insulting to Mike Sainristil. NCAA doesn't want to go to court because they'll lose, so they produced a blustery document to make it about money. Clearly Stalions should not have been part of any organization. If Jim Harbaugh is still the head coach when this comes out they would have had to fire him. But these are clearly minor violations hopped up as an extension of Harbaugh's reaction to telling them to go to hell for Burgergate, and part of a pattern of the NCAA coming after him personally. We're actually shocked at how bad all of their evidence is: 1) Stalions who's a liar. 2) Joey Velazquez, who recorded Stalions, tried to entrap Partridge, and Partridge proved was lying about their interaction, and for the Level II recruiting violations 3) a player who was broomed from the class whom the NCAA also admitted didn't have his stories straight. The only evidence they had of an atmosphere of noncompliance was an assistant (likely Stalions) saying screw Compliance. When they say the benefit was not marginal they don't even try to justify that take—Michigan got better without Stalions. The report makes its conclusion on the value of this entirely on the basis of the lengths that Stalions went to trying to get film when the guy goes to extreme lengths to pump up his own importance as a rule. Their defining piece of evidence is Harbaugh gave him a game ball, when they also say they found Harbaugh gave out 15 game balls per game to try to make sure everyone on staff got one, and Connor's value was so little that he a defensive ball from Iowa. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP] 2. Defensive Line Starts at 16:16 Rayshaun Benny was grading out like Mason Graham—see: the end of the OSU and Alabama games. He is not Mason Graham, but should be able to keep up that sort of ratio because they are so deep they can keep him fresh at the end of games. Tre Williams is a Mazi Smith, M valued him more than Clemson did; he isn't a pass-rusher. Damon Payne is an innings-eater. Ike Iwunnah too. Trey Pierce and Enow Etta are the ones we want to see emerge because they have eligibility for next year. Pierce is on that track while Etta gained weight after getting pushed around last year, is ticketed for the Jenkins role. If a 7th DT plays we think it's Palepale, who looks huge and athletic. Edge has a floor of All-Big Ten and a ceiling of Derrick Moore turning into a Day 1 pick. He is that freakish combination of technique, length, and athleticism, got better at dropping into coverage last year, has a Mike Morris style of pass rush that should work. Last year he was getting to the quarterback but everyone else got there before him. TJ Guy is possibly the smartest guy on the field, had the most dip of last year, underrated strength, lots of versatility, though hit a ceiling when it came to carrying Flex TEs. Saved Michigan vs OSU. Cam Brandt is the established backup to D-Mo; we're a little iffy on him, but he might be on the Morris track. Backup to Guy is Nichols—clearly the program likes him but unproven. Would like to see Nate Marshall used in a pass rush only role this year. Would like to see Baxter and Edokpayi playing more this year too. 3. Linebacker Starts at 50:02 Everybody came back/is healthy after they prepared to lose everyone, so there's a lot of age and a lot of depth. Ernest Hausmann is the glue of the offense, another very underrated player who moves like a nickel and reads plays well. Had to get in better shape because when you're the button you can't be breathing hard between plays—you have to yelling. Barham is the Problem for offenses, because you can't block him with a RB and you have to block someone with the RB. Been caught "covering grass" as we say but has the ability to blow up. Can also spend time at edge if need be. Depth is incredible. Rolder is your Braiden McGregor-memorial back-from-injury senior who's going to play plenty and play well but start losing time to Cole Sullivan, the next Barham who's rocked up and earning a ton of practice hype after being under-ranked out of high school by 247 and ESPN (On3 moved him up to #112 so I couldn't make him the Sleeper of the Class). Also got Troy Bowles who's got a role as the Coverage LB. And Jaydon Hood has shown he can play. AND they really like the freshmen: Owusu-Boateng is a future Hausmann while Chase Taylor is a Class Sleeper. 4. Secondary Starts at 1:16:28 Replete with options, but each has a question mark. Is Rod Moore going to play? Maybe 2nd half of the season—was 85% at start of fall, has to backpedal, IG video shows him jogging. Assumed he's a nickel but TJ Metcalf is stepping in for him; Metcalfs (Metcalves?) can obviously play, precognition is Sainristilian. Brandyn Hillman is a hit stick, the person offensive players are most afraid of despite Barham on the team. Free safety is either Jaden Mangham, a glider whom offenses didn't throw at when at MSU (probably because you could throw at anyone else), or Mason Curtis, who is a very weird player. Curtis has an extra role as a Big Nickel, i.e. a hybrid OLB who comes in for Guy against 2TE sets to take away those Flex TEs. Might see something from a young guy but unlikely. Cornerback is the iffiest position on defense but has a super high ceiling with Jyaire and Zeke both with considerable runway. Hill just needs to not bite on double-moves. Berry got comfortable last year, still can clean up his zones and turn getting a hand on passes into interceptions. Depth starts with Jo'Ziah Edmond, a Ryan Walters special stolen from Walters. We think Shamari Earls looks like an immediately viable corner but is on more of a Jyaire development track (also ran track) as opposed to Will Johnson, who was super developed at this stage. Caleb Anderson did not impress us as much as the two #12s who preceded him. Jeremiah Lowe showed some things in spring; Seth thinks Jayden Sanders is going to play more than Lowe. MUSIC: "Turning Heads"—Dem Franchize Boys "I Got You Babe"—Etta James "Needles in the Camel's Eye"—Brian Eno “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

On this episode of Trust the Plan Podcast with Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Preston Gee, CFP® of Peak Wealth, the focus was on the rising availability of private investments within 401(k) plans. They discussed how options like private equity and private credit, while traditionally reserved for institutional investors, are slowly being introduced into retirement accounts through specialized structures. Although access is still limited and not open to all participants, regulatory changes and industry innovation are beginning to pave the way. Nick and Preston emphasized that while these investments can offer diversification and long-term growth potential, they come with added complexity and are best suited for well-informed investors with a long time horizon. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

In this episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Preston Gee, CFP® of Peak Wealth explore the topic of Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) and why they matter in long-term planning. They explain how CCRCs offer a range of living options within one community, allowing individuals to transition smoothly as their care needs change. Nick and Preston highlight key considerations like contract types, financial planning, and timing, stressing that understanding these elements early can help families make more confident and informed decisions about the future. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

On this episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Preston Gee, CFP® of Peak Wealth discussed a Schwab survey that asked people how much money it takes to feel wealthy. They explored how people's perceptions of wealth are often tied to specific financial milestones, reflecting what they believe would provide comfort, security, and a sense of success. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

On this episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast, financial experts Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Preston Gee, CFP® discuss the uncertain future of Social Security, referencing both U.S. developments and international changes. They noted that the U.S. Social Security program is projected to be unable to pay full benefits by 2033—just eight years away—unless reforms are made. Nick emphasized that while nothing is likely to change in the short term due to political gridlock, future adjustments are inevitable. They pointed to France's recent 2023 decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, despite widespread protests, as an example of how other countries are already acting. Such moves abroad could foreshadow difficult but necessary decisions facing the U.S. system in the years ahead. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

On this feel-good edition of the Trust the Plan podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Jim Pilat, CFP® dive into the lighthearted financial plot flaws in the classic comedy Happy Gilmore, just in time to celebrate the release of Happy Gilmore 2, 30 years after the original hit theaters. From Happy's plan to win prize money to save his grandmother's house, to the questionable handling of her overdue tax payments and looming eviction, Nick and Jim have a blast breaking it all down. It's a fun way to kick off the nostalgia and excitement for the long-awaited sequel. Stay tuned for our full review of Happy Gilmore 2, coming soon! — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

2 hour and 6 minutes This episode was recorded at Champions Circle's third golf outing, on a golf course outdoors, so apologies for the background noise. Huge thank you to Alejandro Zúñiga for his production assistance and for sitting in on the first segment while Brian was stuck behind a funerial procession. The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, Venue by 4M where usually record this, and new this week the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, and the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre. 1. MAX BREDESON, DOMINIC ZVADA, & MARLIN KLEIN Starts at 1:00 Zvada explains why kickers are so much better today: access to technology originally developed for golf that shows their spin rate and trajectory and distance, plus training techniques. Bredeson discusses The Game last year and how they went hunting for gaps, says anyone who plays TE can do all the things they do. Klein turned it up in the bowl game. We get a crash course in kicker and TE lingo.  2. BRYCE UNDERWOOD, JADYN DAVIS, & JORDAN MARSHALL Starts at 21:36 Underwood and Davis set up challenges for each other, how they make each other better. Marshall and Haynes were full go in spring, happy splitting reps. Least favorite guy to get hit by: Brandyn Hillman; Marshall was happy that he and Jaishawn were on his team in spring. What role the fans played in Bryce's recruitment. How does money play a role in the locker room these days? How they see the Martindale defense. [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  3. MIKEY KEENE, DAVIS WARREN, & JUSTICE HAYNES Starts at 39:43 Keene on preparing to play Michigan: what they could teach each other. Haynes similar thing: what was it like playing against Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Thing they prepared for Michigan: wow, the blitzes! Haynes lists all the reasons he came to Michigan until we tell him "It's okay, the quarterbacks are aware we run the ball." On platooning: I want to be able to run around with my kids after football. Warren on playing Ohio State. New faces in the QB room: type of guys on the team. 4. DONAVEN MCCULLEY, SEMAJ MORGAN, PEYTON O'LEARY, & JOE TAYLOR Starts at 59:01 McCulley also shares what it's like to be a (true Fr) quarterback facing Michigan (not fun!). O'Leary and Taylor talk about the walk-on experience, what's going to happen with the 15 guys who used to be walk-ons. Other walk-ons who are impressing (Andrighetto at safety). Learning to play WR: you get a feel for where you need to be for the quarterback, playing in space. How much has the offense changed. Who's come along since last year: Tevis Metcalf for sure.   5. ERNEST HAUSMANN, TJ GUY, & DOMINIC NICHOLS Starts at 1:26:05 HONESTLY THIS WAS OUR BEST INTERVIEW. Ernest and TJ are starting a podcast. Guy on how many positions you need to know to play OLB. How he and Nichols feel about dropping into coverage. Hausmann shares he's got to be in better shape to be the dot because he can't be breathing hard between plays as he's giving the calls. What were they seeing versus Ohio State. "Ern was going crazy in that game." How do you grade LBs? It was quiet.     6. GREG CRIPPEN, GIO EL-HADI AND ANDREW BABALOLA Starts at 1:30:14 Crippen how it feels to be The Guy finally (not counting his eggs; he's got to win it). Why El-Hadi is just more comfortable on the left. Babalola on the difference between HS and college, and how he compares to the other guys as freshmen. What's it like being a five-star recruit. How they see the fronts and make the line calls. Why is OL hard: gotta learn the playbook first, including all the adjustments. How to make decisions on the fly: all about communication. Gio doesn't play with a mouthguard so he can communicate better. If Michigan football had to make a basketball team: PG: Semaj Morgan SG: Bryce Underwood SF: TJ Guy PF: Lugard Edokpayi C: Babalola/Sprague       8. ROD MOORE, ZEKE BERRY, TJ METCALF AND SHAMARI EARLS Starts at 1:43:41 Rod Moore recovery: 85%. Had to come back mentally before but he's staying as locked in as he can. TJ Metcalf on the portal experience. Zeke Berry on the transition to corner: switching up to #1 was a little iffy at first, but the look is the same, got used to it. Did he see the IU pick earlier in the game? No it was in practice the week before. Still a jack of all trades. Shamari on track, he's picking up all the calls. Receivers to watch? Marsh, Goodwin, Semaj. Who's the fastest guys out there. Who's the biggest hitter: B-Hill, then TJ then Rod. Transition to Wink last year: had to get comfortable with each other. 9. TRE WILLIAMSON, DERRICK MOORE, AND RAYSHAUN BENNY Starts at 1:55:39 Rayshaun going into this year: he's been out there, acted like a starter from previous years. Tre on difference with Michigan. He loves the depth, no other school had the type of talent he was playing around. D-Mo on playing Edge, started with two of the four positions (Rush, End, Buck and SAM). What would he say to his freshman self? Biff Poggi made this program the same program as at St. Frances. He was injured last year, the production was always there, leading the team in pressures early. Benny on coming back from his injury last year. MUSIC: "Intro (A Star in the Sky)"—Heavy Weighs the King "Stand Well Well"—Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 "It'll All Work Out"—Blake Mills “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Jim Pilat, CFP® of Peak Wealth, hosting the Trust  the Plan Podcast draw a thoughtful comparison between the major blue‑chip companies of the early 1990s and today's corporate giants. They reflect on how, back then, names like GE, Exxon, IBM and Coca‑Cola dominated with longstanding industrial and consumer staples. In contrast, their 2025 lineup features tech‑driven titans and digital platforms whose influence extends far beyond traditional market sectors. Through this discussion, they underscore how the shift from physical goods to data‑powered services has radically transformed which companies shape and lead the global economy. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

In this episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Jim Pilat, CFP® of Peak Wealth Management discusses potential changes to 529 plans if the proposed “Big Beautiful Bill” passes. They outline how the bill aims to expand the flexibility and allowable uses of 529 funds, making these education savings accounts more adaptable to a broader range of educational and financial goals. The conversation focuses on how the updates could affect how families plan for education expenses, including potential new options for using leftover funds. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Jim Pilat, CFP® of Peak Wealth Management announce that the firm now oversees $400 million in assets under management, marking a significant milestone in their continued growth. In their July halftime report episode, they reflect on overall market performance through the first half of 2025 and share insights on what investors might expect in the months ahead. They discuss broader economic themes and emphasize the importance of staying diversified, remaining adaptable, and keeping a long-term perspective as the financial landscape continues to shift. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

Check out a special episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast with Nick Hopwood, CFP® featuring our standout Peak summer intern, Jacob Strom. In this episode, we dive into Jacob's unique journey—what brought him to Peak, his passion for finance, and the path that led him here. It's an inspiring conversation that highlights the next generation of talent in the industry. Don't miss it—tune in to learn more about Jacob's story and his time with the Peak team. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

Nick Hopwood, Certified Financial Planner and founder of Peak Wealth Management where they manage 400 million for high net worth individuals and small businesses owners. Nick is known as "Mr Roth" because sometimes thats all he wants to talk about... Visit PeakWM.com/Gruber to get a second opinion Markets reaction to middle east conflict Using a 401k to invest in real estate  

In this episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast, Jim Pilat, CFP® of Peak Wealth, sits down with guest Evan Chopp to explore Evan's personal finance journey. Evan shares the goals he's set for himself and his family, how his mindset around money has evolved, and the practical strategies he's using to build financial freedom. The conversation also dives into how travel hacking fits into his broader budgeting approach—saving money while still prioritizing meaningful experiences. It's a thoughtful look at how intentional planning can support both financial wellness and lifestyle goals. Check out our most recent episode with Nick and Evan. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

Nick Hopwood, CFP® of Peak Wealth and host of the Trust the Plan Podcast, is joined once again by Evan Chopp—points enthusiast and all-around knowledgeable guy—for a deep dive into the Chase Sapphire 100k offer and why it's one of the best in the game. In this episode, they break down how to follow Evan's proven strategy to maximize credit card points, redeem them for top-tier travel experiences, and get the most value out of every point. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just getting started, this conversation will help you make the most of your rewards. Check out Evan's first episode with us in 2024. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

Nick Hopwood, certified financial planner at Peak Wealth Management. Nick's team of CFP's help high net worth individuals and small businesses owners retire with peak confidence. Nick will build a financial plan you can believe in - Trust the plan! Most advisors are just sales people pushing products, but Nick and his team are fee based planners who always make recommendations which are in their clients best interest - that's what being a fiduciary is all about. Visit PeakWM.com/Gruber to Learn More

Nick Hopwood and Jim Pilat of Peak Wealth, on their Trust the Plan podcast, recently discussed a Chase Bank data report examining spending patterns in partially and fully retired households with $250,000 to $750,000 in investable wealth. They observed that spending often increases shortly after retirement, driven by lifestyle changes and long-postponed purchases. Over time, however, that spending naturally begins to taper as routines settle and priorities shift. Their discussion emphasized the need for thoughtful retirement planning that accounts for these evolving spending habits. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube:  @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com    

In a recent episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP®, and Jim Pilat, CFP®, of Peak Wealth Management, delve into the strategic decision of Roth conversions in retirement planning. They present a case study comparing the financial outcomes of converting traditional IRA funds to Roth IRAs versus maintaining the traditional structure. Through detailed charts, they illustrate how Roth conversions can potentially reduce future tax liabilities and provide tax-free income in retirement.  — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com  

Nick Hopwood, Certified financial planner and Founder at Peak Wealth Management. Nick and his team of CFP's help high net worth individuals and small business owners retire with peak confidence. Visit PeakWM.com/Gruber to learn how YOU can protect your FUTURE The Market Has Been Rising Everyday for Two Weeks Trump Vs. Walmart

On the Trust the Plan Podcast, Nick Hopwood, CFP® and Jim Pilat, CFP® of Peak Wealth Management dive into the importance of starting early when investing for college. They emphasize that the earlier you begin, the more you can take advantage of compound growth, making it much easier to fully fund a college education. Using tools like 529 plans, families can invest in a tax-advantaged way toward future tuition costs. Nick and Jim break down how much you need to save monthly— depending on the target school and timeline—to stay on track. Their key message: trust the process, start early, and stick to the plan. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

On this episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast, CFPs Nick Hopwood and Jim Pilat of Peak Wealth talk about why rising advisor attrition rates across the industry don't reflect what they see in their firm. By focusing on strong client relationships, a team-based approach, and consistent communication, they've built a model that keeps clients engaged and supported for the long haul. It's all about trust, continuity, and delivering real value beyond just investment advice. From there, they turn their attention to another critical topic: managing risk in today's unpredictable markets. With volatility making headlines and investor anxiety on the rise, Nick and Jim emphasize that not every fluctuation signals a time to act. In fact, they caution against panic-driven decisions, encouraging clients to stay focused on their long-term goals. At Peak Wealth, the message is clear—success comes from discipline, not reaction, and understanding when not to move is just as important as knowing when to act. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

On a recent episode of the Trust the Plan Podcast, Jim Pilat, CFP® and Preston Gee, CFP® of Peak Wealth delved into a compelling case study featuring a couple in their mid-40s with three kids and a strong household income, now getting serious about their financial future. A Certified Financial Planner (CFP) flagged several red flags in their current approach — Jim and Preston unpack these concerns, offering their perspective on whether they agree with the CFP's assessment and exploring how proactive planning could address these issues before they become costly missteps. — Peak Wealth Management is a financial planning and wealth management firm in Plymouth, MI. We believe by providing education and guidance, we inspire our clients to make great decisions so they can Retire With Peace of Mind. Stay Connected With Us: Podbean: findingtruewealth.podbean.com YouTube: / @peakwealthmgmt Apple: rb.gy/1jqp6 (Trust the Plan Podcast) Facebook: Facebook.com/PeakWealthManagement Twitter: Twitter.com/nhopwood1 www.peakwm.com

2 hour and 14 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Spring Game Vibes and Offense Starts at 1:00 Michigan didn't televise the spring game so now you have to listen to this one! Shout out to men's gymnastics on winning a national championship. Blue team won 17-0, yay. Did Michigan have enough offensive players to reasonably fill out two offenses? Both QBs threw deep balls, most of them weren't particularly close. Bryce had a few Freshman moments as well and everything over 10-15 yards was very flat. There aren't very many receivers but Donaven McCulley wasn't even on the same team as Underwood and was benched after the first quarter (along with most starters). Marlin Klein and Hogan Hansen didn't play. The spring game is delayed on broadcast for a week because of the portal deadline. Haynes and Marshal are it at running back, Micah Ka'apana was slippery like Chris Evans but Michigan hasn't thrown to a running back since 2016. Bryson Kuzdzal looked pretty good! The receivers aren't adjusting to the ball much, Semaj also didn't do much. The 2nd string fullback (Jalen Hoffman) has gotten more targets in a spring game than Max Bredeson has in his whole career and is the highest stock rise of the spring game. Maybe they can stack two wide receivers on top of each other like Vincent Adultman. When Michigan had three tight ends on the field they ran the ball pretty well. According to Sherrone, the three offensive linemen who are locked in are El-Hadi, Crippen, and Sprague. Babalola is big but made freshman mistakes (which is fine).  2. Spring Game Defense Starts at 50:17 Michigan looks like they'll be very tough once again and has a lot of depth. Defensive end is loaded with Big Ten starters. Rayshaun Benny is established where we want him to be at this point in his development. There's going to be a drop-off from Graham and Grant but it'll be fine. It felt like the lines were two good units going against each other. We like the way Deyvid Palepale is shaped, he might be Brian Mone. We didn't learn much about the linebackers but Cole Sullivan was in the backfield a lot. The defensive backs played really well without Jyaire Hill. Shamari Earls is wearing #2 and is looking like #2. All of these defensive backs seem plausible, McBurrows hitting the portal makes more sense now. The secondary might not have any real stars but they won't have any holes, even without Rod Moore. Safeties don't have a real rock like we're used to.  3. Hot Takes and Michigan Hockey Roster Starts at 1:14:49 Takes hotter than the one guy across the aisle at the Spring Game who is already mad at Bryce Underwood. The hockey roster is in a state of flux, we're all awaiting what will happen with the CHL kids. Michigan gets four defensemen back and brings in some transfers and CHL players. Ben Robertson comes in from Cornell after averaging 21 minutes per game. The defense has nine players on roster currently which is probably too many. They could use a goalie! Right now they have 10 forwards on a team that usually carries 14. They have a roster spot for McKenna (the Bryce Underwood of hockey), can they get him? The Big Ten might be top-to-bottom the best quality hockey in the country that isn't the NHL.  4. Potpourri Starts at 1:52:20 Danny Wolf is officially out and headed for the NBA, Aday Mara commits. They're waiting on Lendeborg but they'll still be a good team without him. One more summer of polishing Will Tschetter could make him a really good 4. In football, Luke Bauer comes in as a punter from Missouri - he's an average punter. They get CJ Hester at running back from UMass to replace Ben Hall. He's a little bowling ball. The concession lines at the Spring Game were long! Michigan Stadium isn't catering to the average fan who wants to bring their kids. There are now kids who have attended the Spring Game and didn't have a good time and now they probably won't want to go next year.  MUSIC: "Let's Get Down"—Toni Toni Tone "Bendicion Mami"—Fat Joe "Check The Technique"—Gang Starr “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

2 hour and 14 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball Transfer Portal Starts at 1:00 Yaxel Lendeborg sounds Belgian but isn't, this starts out as a World War I podcast. Cadeau is a former five star who started for UNC, he has a Xavier Simpson assist rate but is not the most productive shooter. He also has an elevated turnover rate. Why this move feels like a wash coming from Tre Donaldson. Morez Johnson Jr. fits in well with Cadaeu, also he can thunder dunk the ball into the center of the universe. Illinois' offense would take a slight hit when Johnson is on the floor, but they get a +10 rebound rate with him. His best basket is a dunk. Unfortunately, the day Yaxel Lendeborg committed to Michigan he gave an interview where he said he wants an NBA contract and Michigan is the backup plan. Theoretically he's Danny Wolf but mean. Michigan needs a backup center but is otherwise in good shape. All signs point towards Nimari Burnett coming back. Brian is mad that Duke went 20 minutes without a turnover. We discuss Michigan's projected seed with the Yaxel situation and without the Yaxel situation.  2. Hot Takes and The State of College Athletics Starts at 42:40 Takes hotter than the best night club in Yaxel Lendeborg, Belgium. The state of things seem a bit perilous. Tre Donaldson hit the transfer portal with a broken heart emoji, what happened? It sucks that you don't really get to know players for multiple years up until their graduation. Part of the joy of college sports is watching players step up that you didn't expect to step up. The Big Ten needs an angry coach now that Fran is gone and Mick Cronin will step up. They should give schools incentives for keeping/graduating their players. The 1-4 seeds are all getting better and fans might get frustrated that more upsets don't happen. People want the chaos. Even Michael Jordan played three years in college, imagine if all the best players did that. This doesn't effect football quite as much. Fans and coaches all want roster continuity. Dusty May seems relatively well-positioned to maintain a lot of players. 3. Spring Football Bits Starts at 1:19:47 Spring Football is still happening. Updates on the offensive line, Evan Link has turned a corner after the Ohio State game. Crippen will be just fine at center. Andrew Babaloa won't be ready because he's a freshman and that's okay. Donaven McCulley is the real deal at wide receiver and everyone else is competing for the remaining spots. The running backs are good. The defensive line is not replacing Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant but it has depth. Are the redshirt freshman defensive ends turning the corner? It's being said that they are. Safety updates, with and without Rod Moore. They'll probably look for a punter in the portal.  4. Michigan Hockey Updates Starts at 1:55:27 Who hit the portal and what impact does that have? Michigan needs to get high-end defensive players. Does Gavin McKenna come to Michigan? He could be the number one overall pick. Why is Cameron Korpi in the portal? Is Michigan trying to get a CHL goalie? Or other CHL players? The CHL isn't happy about NIL.  MUSIC: "Consideration"—Rihanna ft. SZA "I'm Allowed"—Buffalo Tom "When I Get There"—Grady Strange “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

1 hour and 46 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball vs Auburn - Sweet Sixteen Starts at 1:00 It's times like this that make you think of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Ozymandias which has a passage about "when you're leading by 9 points with 12 minutes left don't give up a 20-2 run". Michigan made Auburn as dumb as Michigan for a half and then Auburn remembered they were the #1 overall seed. Michigan gives up 1.04 ppp overall. Turnovers were tied but Michigan was obliterated on rebounds. The season-long issues with the front court came to light in this game. This ended up being what you would expect in a game of Michigan vs Super Michigan. We'll miss Vlad Goldin, Craig has some nits to pick.  2. Looking Back on the Season Starts at 21:51 Dusty May comes into a roster with Will Tschetter and Nimari Burnett, most of his FAU squad doesn't follow him (besides Vlad Goldin). But he assembles this motley crew of a team. The question coming in was "can he assemble a good roster or did he just have one good recruiting class?" Turns out he can assemble a good roster. Brian hoped this could be a 6-seed coming into the season and people thought this was crazy. They probably should've been higher than a 5-seed. This season earns an A for exceeding all expectations, not an A+ but an A. Dusty May was the better choice over Niko Medved.  3. Hot Takes and Looking Forward to Next Season Starts at 42:43 Takes hotter than whatever Craig is about to say. Michigan loses Rubin Jones, Jace Howard, Vlad Goldin, Justin Pippen, and probably Danny Wolf, You now have a roster cap of 15, they can be scholarship or not. They'll be looking for centers in the portal. Get ready for an L.J. Cason glow up. Looking ahead to Trey McKenney as a freshman. If Sam Walters was going to hit the portal, wouldn't he have done it by now? There appear to be a lot of high quality centers in the portal. Transfer portal targets, Brian wants Magoon Gwath. What's the ceiling for next year? They'll finally have some continuity on the roster. Just find a guy who's 7 feet tall and put him on the roster.  4. Michigan Football Spring Practice and Hockey Starts at 1:26:08 The only QBs available are Bryce Underwood and Jadyn Davis, Mikey Keene is injured. Otherwise we're not hearing much of anything. Shamari Earls is supposedly turning out and is Charles Woodson sized. There will not be Jeremy Clark slander. Michigan hockey had a disappointing end to the season, how will they bounce back? How much will Michigan pay for hockey after football and basketball? What does the rest of the Big Ten look like? MUSIC: "Cradle The Pain"—Morgan Nagler "Back to Earth"—Manplanet "I Wish"—Skee-Lo “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

1 hour and 34 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Sweet Sixteen Vibes Starts at 1:00 Oh hey! We didn't expect to be here! Roddy Gayle just made more threes in one game than during Michigan's entire Big Ten schedule. He has risen from the dead and Michigan out-rebounded the best rebounding team in the country so here we are! Michigan got hosed by the selection committee but made it to the 2nd weekend anyways. Brian 'Roddy Gayles' the sponsor read. Going into next year, Dusty May needs a center and a backup center but should otherwise be set. 2. Men's Basketball vs Texas A&M Starts at 15:26 Nobody expected this game to go the way it did. Michigan started 1-7 on threes and then started hitting a lot of great shots against a top 10 defense. Michigan got a lot of un-contested rebounds which was weird considering that's Texas A&M's thing. Goldin was probably getting more tired than usual, he got pulled early. L.J. Cason was a game-changer in this one, he could be special next year. Why did Nimari only have 13 minutes? All of Goldin's energy went towards rebounding, his performance would've been very memorable if it wasn't eclipsed by Gayle. Just don't pass to Patrick.  3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs UC San Diego Starts at 37:20 Takes hotter than RODDY GAYLE. UC San Diego is such a weird team. Brian still can't pronounce their star's first name who fouled out in 25 minutes. Michigan should've had the bigs dunk at the rim but UCSD defended them well. Roddy Gaye and L.J. Cason played important roles, not quite as big as in the TAMU game. Michigan's shot parity is only -2 which is good enough. If Wolf played better then maybe Michigan walks away from this one. They hit the Kenpom spread exactly. How well will we remember this game years from now?  4. Previewing Men's Basketball vs Auburn Starts at 1:01:34 Michigan has drawn the #1 overall seed in the tournament. Auburn's greatest strength is shot making and are the 2nd best offense in the country (1st is Florida). They have some super seniors from the Covid year. Auburn has a similar Bigs setup to Michigan so they can handle Goldin+Wolf. One of their biggest weaknesses is that they foul a lot. Personnel wise, these teams are very similar and both coaches will likely match each other. Jahki Howard might be the worst teammate in the country. Auburn will want revenge against Danny Wolf after last year's Yale game. Everyone was watching the Michigan game on Thursday since most of the first round games were uneventful. This Auburn offense is 8 efficiency points better than the 2013 Michigan offense.  MUSIC: "Where Do We Go From Here"—Charles Bradley "Monstera Escalito"—Ciao Ciao Marigold "What do You Like"—Tommy Richman “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

1 hour and 28 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. The NCAA Tournament and UC San Diego Starts at 1:00 Michigan is your Big Ten Tournament champions! There was a lot of doom and gloom at the end of the regular season so not many people saw this happening. Michigan might be the most boned team in the tournament draw. Wisconsin is an 18 point favorite against Montana, Michigan is a 3 point favorite over UC San Diego. UCSD is clearly a top 50 team but they can't match up with Michigan's Bigs. Get familiar with the name Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (in pronunciation and basketball production). The Tritons give up a ton of threes. Yale is a popular upset pick over Texas A&M, TAMU's thing is missing shots but rebounding them. Who would you rather play, TAMU or Yale? That's a tougher question than it would seem. Clearly the results of the Big Ten Tournament don't matter because Michigan is seeded like it didn't happen.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Men's Basketball vs Wisconsin Starts at 32:43 The shooting percentages in this game were... ugly. Wisconsin had good looks but just couldn't hit them. Goldin seemed absolutely gassed this game. L.J. Cason really helped bail out Michigan. Michigan only had eight turnovers! But missed on the boards.  3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Maryland Starts at 49:43 Takes hotter than your Big Ten Champion Michigan Wolverine Football Basketball team. This is one of the worst officiating games we can remember. Roddy Gayle had a great game... and MADE A THREE. He only had nine points but that level of production is what Michigan needs. The final play was a football play in its design.  4. Men's Basketball vs Purdue Starts at 1:14:01 A nice bounce back game that happens from taking care of the ball. Why does everyone want to kick Goldin in the nuts? Purdue gets more goonish when they're tired and they were coming off a tough game against USC. Michigan wasn't turning the ball over and was assisting well for each other, this was the Dusty May team we love to see. Michigan gets the night game on Thursday and will be played at 5,280 feet. Please fly over right now and get acclimated, you're invited to sleep on my couch (IT'S A NICE COUCH, SETH). It may be a 50/50 chance we preview Auburn next week.  MUSIC: "Take This Job And Shove It"—Johnny Paycheck "F*ck You"—CeeLo Green "MUTT"—Leon Thomas “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

Sklars performing at Mark Ridley's in Royal Oak this Thursday at 7:30PM (doors open at 6:30) tickets: Supersklars.com We will be there having drinks with copies of VICTORS to sign after the show. If you can't make a weeknight they're performing 2 shows on Friday and Saturday night. 1 hour and 10 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball at Michigan State Starts at 1:00 We still have to do a podcast. Dave went to go enjoy the weather instead. This game was over in the first half. 3/24 on threes is not good! Last year's team would've given up at halftime, this team at least fought back a little. What has this team improved upon since their trip to California? Michigan doesn't have a guard that can generate offense. We thought a lot of these transfers would've turned a corner by now. This team still exceeded expectations for the season, the way they got there was just not how we expected. There's the potential for Michigan to not win another game this season.   2. Men's Basketball vs Maryland Starts at 21:11 This game was similar to the Michigan State game in that Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin were the only ones scoring. Maryland got to play a Maryland game and Michigan didn't have a plan.  3. Lukewarm Takes and Hockey vs Penn State Starts at 32:11 Just some lukewarm takes this week. Go see the Sklars in Ann Arbor this Thursday-Saturday! Hockey is now just 42% to make the tournament after getting swept by Penn State. Root for Western Michigan, Denver, and Quinnipiac. Friday's game was pretty fun at least! Despite giving up bad goals. It didn't feel like a super talented roster. Imagine if Michigan got goalie Trey Augustine instead of Michigan State. Goal-tending was unclear going into the season and seems like it will continue to be unclear.  4. Football Spring Practice Starts at 57:47 Spring practice starts soon! Is Bryce Underwood already the guy? Running backs have a top two, it's a battle for #3. Will the offensive line look similar to last year? There are some lower level transfers coming in but offensive linemen can flourish in the right system. Please hype up a wide receiver. Hopefully the two transfer defensive tackles come through. They'll be fine but it's still a huge downgrade. Cornerback will be an interesting position, we want to hear that Jyaire Hill is rounding the corner. How is Rod Moore's health? Who's the punter?? MUSIC: "Lie In The Gutter"—Peel Dream Magazine "Dollar Store"—Ben Kellar ft. Waxahatchee "Mr. Chill"—Friendship “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

GoFundMes to support victims of the fires in LA who are part of the MGoBlog community: General Fund. Reader's mother-in-law Anne Cohen. Reader Chef Robert. Reader Josh Bishop-Moser. Reader Mike on behalf of Mika Yoshitake & daughter Sora. Readers Liberty and Mark. 1 hour and 21 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball vs Illinois Starts at 1:00 Michigan was asking for a game like this after the last couple months, you can't give up 19 offensive rebounds in a game and expect to win. Illinois got 9 more shots than Michigan and their young guys went off. Vlad Goldin was the only one who was getting an advantage. Danny Wolf is officially in a funk, this likely doesn't affect his draft stock. Michigan might be a popular pick to get upset in the first round of the tournament. They're fading down the stretch and not getting better in a lot of departments, especially rebounding.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Men's Basketball vs Michigan State Starts at 23:06 This was a "make your shots" game, Michigan State hit their shots. Also Michigan had an 11 shot deficit. Michigan now has a worse 3-point shooting percentage than Michigan State. Roddy Gayle has not hit a three-pointer since January, nobody is covering him anymore and that extra player is guarding the paint. Tre Donaldson might've had his worst game.  3. Hot Takes and Men's Basketball vs Rutgers & Nebraska Starts at 34:06 Takes hotter than yours truly after the 19th Illinois offensive rebound. These two games were polar opposites in what basketball is. Michigan had poor shooting and looked tired after the Michigan State game. The three-point shooting has come down tremendously. Seth thinks the worse three point shooting is mostly random except for Roddy Gayle, opposing defenses can always plan for Roddy not being able to shoot. For one half, Rutgers was the greatest basketball team in the world, then it came crashing back to Earth. Is it time for L.J. Cason to play more? Sometimes he looks great and sometimes he doesn't box out at all. Vlad Goldin is just not a passer in the paint. Who would you take for free throws to win the game, Roddy Gayle or Nimari Burnett? 4. Hockey vs Ohio State Starts at 1:10:08 Michigan steals four points from Ohio State and has their tournament percentage up to 85%. Michigan hosts Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament but Penn State is playing very hot at the end of this season. The "It gets worse" call is now legendary. Win this upcoming series and you're in, get swept and... you might still be in.  MUSIC: "You Don't Know The Shape I'm In"—MJ Lenderman "Loser"—Jerry Garcia "Whip Appeal"—Babyface “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra    

GoFundMes to support victims of the fires in LA who are part of the MGoBlog community: General Fund. Reader's mother-in-law Anne Cohen. Reader Chef Robert. Reader Josh Bishop-Moser. Reader Mike on behalf of Mika Yoshitake & daughter Sora. Readers Liberty and Mark. 1 hour and 42 minutes The Sponsors Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com. Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning, The Sklars Brothers, the Autograph: Fandom Rewarded app, Champions Circle, Winewood Organics, Community Pest Solutions, and Venue by 4M where usually record this. 1. Men's Basketball at Ohio State Starts at 1:00 Bienvenue! Recorded remotely this week because Seth's 19 year old ski boots exploded. Michigan wins a defense-optional shootout, they rebounded half their misses which ended up being the difference (Ohio State just couldn't out-rebound Goldin and Wolf). There's a big difference between Goldin being the role guy and Tschetter being the role guy, so why did Goldin only get 24 minutes? Officiating in this game and how it relates to the Bo Ryan era. Don't elbow someone in the head but also don't put your head into someone's elbow. Roddy Gayle returns to Columbus and silences the boos out of timeouts. Stop missing dunks. Neither team got a double digit lead, the game was tense the whole time.  [The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]  2. Men's Basketball vs Purdue Starts at 24:50 Michigan avenges a terrible loss to become co-favorites to win the Big Ten. Braden Smith plays an insane 12 minutes to open the game for Purdue, making the first half extra frustrating. His mid-range shots weren't even bad shots, necessarily. Rubin Jones and Roddy Gayle combined for 20 points and played excellent, annoying defense. They came through in a way that was required to win this game. Michigan shoots below their season 3-point average but only had 11 turnovers. They also got to the line a lot (off of some calls that weren't great). Caleb Furst should've fouled out in the first six minutes! The physicality of the Big Ten is more than Dusty May realized. Purdue had zero bench points.  3. Hot Takes and Hockey vs Minnesota Starts at 49:12 Takes hotter than Michigan basketball in a three point game. Michigan gets slightly more than a split against Minnesota which decently increases their NCAA tournament chances. A split with Ohio State and a first round win in the Big Ten Tournament should do it. Minnesota was out-shooting Michigan 12-2 to start the game on Saturday, not great! Welcome back, Michael Hage. Tyler Duke played a nice game when everyone else was gassed. Bye week upcoming so we won't know much about tournament chances for a while.  4. Tournament Outlooks Starts at 1:16:40 Men's basketball is now projected to win the Big Ten but Wisconsin is looming with the easier schedule. Purdue and Michigan State both finish with a gauntlet. Of Michigan's last six games, four or five of them will be against tournament teams. Finishing 3-3 could maybe be enough to win a share of the Big Ten and get a banner. It's been a while since it's come down to Michigan and Michigan State down the stretch. Torvik has Michigan jumping between 3 and 4 seeds, which takes win margin into account. Hockey is projected to play Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. They're now 80% to make the NCAA tournament but everyone ahead of them in the Pairwise rankings is pretty much a lock. The worst tournament in sports is suddenly in Michigan's favor! There's a regional in Toledo but Michigan probably doesn't go there. Shout out to Hockey Bear.  MUSIC: "Real Life"—The Marias "MUTT"—Leon Thomas "THE BADDEST"—Joey Valence and Brae “Across 110th Street”—JJ Johnson and his Orchestra