Podcasts about reserves

Hot new bennies are live on one of our favorite cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve! As of 10/26/25, many new benefits are available for you to activate or take advantage of, such as: $300 per year ($150 per semi-annual period) for dining at restaurants in the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables portfolio $500 per year ($250 per semi-annual period) for "The Edit" hotels   $300 per year ($150 per semi-annual period) for StubHub Complimentary Apple TV+ and Apple Music. Subscriptions run through 6/22/27 – a value of $250 annually  IHG Platinum status $10/mo towards Peloton membership Other details: Points on your CSR before 10/26/25 can still be redeemed at 1.5 cents per point until Oct 2027 Some redemptions may be higher using Chase's Points Boost feature Annual fee still waived for military service members's and their spouses in the MLA database Our initial podcast announcing these changes was episode #183. Go back and listen! Check out the full details and apply at: https://militarymoneymanual.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-military/ Spencer and Jamie offer one-on-one Military Money Mentor sessions. Get your personal military money and personal finance questions answered in a confidential coaching call. militarymoneymanual.com/mentor Over 20,000 military servicemembers and military spouses have graduated from the 100% free course available at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 In the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course, you can learn how to apply for the most premium credit cards and get special military protections, such as waived annual fees, on elite cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. https://militarymoneymanual.com/amex-platinum-military/ https://militarymoneymanual.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-military/ Learn how active duty military, military spouses, and Guard and Reserves on 30+ day active orders can get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. Want to be confident with your TSP investing? Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual.

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I dive into the Human Rights Foundation's look at Bitcoin's quantum vulnerability - what's real, what's hype, and what would it take to truly secure the network. Then I unpack the social and technical chaos such a shift would demand, from wallet redesigns to the moral question of whether “fixing” the past would break Bitcoin's principles. Links Mentioned Against Allowing Quantum Recovery of Bitcoin by Jameson Lopp (Link: https://blog.lopp.net/against-quantum-recovery-of-bitcoin/) Presidio Bitcoin Quantum Summit - summary and speaker discussions (Link: https://www.presidiobitcoin.org/) Replication of Quantum Factorisation Records with an8-bit Home Computer, an Abacus, and a Dog - paper by Peter Gutmann & Stephan Neuhaus (Link: https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/1237.pdf)Angewandte Wissenschaften Guy's Roundtable_011 - Treasuries, Politics, Quantum & Why This Cycle is Different (Discusses Steve's take on quantum hype) (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/4xAEXBtZcdFfg064FIRI) Check out the original article The Quantum Threat to Bitcoin by HRF (Link: https://hrf.org/latest/the-quantum-threat-to-bitcoin/)  Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma is dedicated to advancing human performance and well-being through cutting-edge light therapy devices and performance eyewear. Their mission is to enhance physical and mental health, unlocking peak human health, cognitive function, and physical performance. Get 10% off your order with the code BITCOINAUDIBLE. (Link: https://getchroma.co/?ref=BitcoinAudible) Host Links ⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ne...

Pippa speaks to Fatima Schloss, CapeNature contact centre manager, about five flagship nature reserves which will be going cashless. Lunch with Pippa Hudson is CapeTalk’s mid-afternoon show. This 2-hour respite from hard news encourages the audience to take the time to explore, taste, read and reflect. The show - presented by former journalist, baker and water sports enthusiast Pippa Hudson - is unashamedly lifestyle driven. Popular features include a daily profile interview #OnTheCouch at 1:10pm. Consumer issues are in the spotlight every Wednesday while the team also unpacks all things related to health, wealth & the environment. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Lunch with Pippa Hudson Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays between 13:00 and 15:00 (SA Time) to Lunch with Pippa Hudson broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/MdSlWEs or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/fDJWe69 Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grab your drink and pull up a chair - it's another Bitcoin Roundtable with Simple Steve, Bitcoin Mechanic, and my brother Jeff Swann. This time we're diving into the chaos around soft forks, censorship, and the latest round of Bitcoin drama. We get into the weeds (and the memes) of BIP 444, Taproot fallout, node wars, and whether limiting data on-chain is smart security or overzealous gatekeeping. Between technical tangents, Halloween costumes, and a few “did that really happen?” moments, we bounce between philosophy and practicality... all while trying to figure out who exactly broke Bitcoin this time. Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma is dedicated to advancing human performance and well-being through cutting-edge light therapy devices and performance eyewear. Their mission is to enhance physical and mental health, unlocking peak human health, cognitive function, and physical performance. Get 10% off your order with the code BITCOINAUDIBLE. (Link: https://getchroma.co/?ref=BitcoinAudible) Guest Links Steve Simple Nostr (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3s6a8yn8) Steve Simple on X (Link: https://x.com/stevesimple) Bitcoin Mechanic Nostr (Link: https://tinyurl.com/2tm827ut) Bitcoin Mechanic on X (Link: https://x.com/GrassFedBitcoin) Jeff Swann Nostr (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3sjc3bcp) Jeff Swann on X (Link: https://x.com/agoristview) Host Links ⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney) ⁠Guy on X ⁠(Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann)

Metro is continuing its tradition of honoring Veterans Day by offering fare-free rides on Metro's fixed-route and Access paratransit services for veterans and active- or reserve-duty military members, including the National Guard and Reserves, on Tuesday, November 11th.  To ride free on Veterans Day, active, reserve and retired military members Read More Shared by United Resource Connection November 5, 2025

É terça-feira, 29 de abril de 2025, 16h21min, hora de entrar AO VIVO com os @bitcoinheiros!Entre para fazer suas perguntas, comentários e aparecer na LIVE via https://supersats.bitcoinheiros.com________________APOIE O CANALhttps://bitcoinheiros.com/apoie/⚡ln@pay.bitcoinheiros.comhttps://loja.bitcoinheiros.com para comprar produtos dos bitcoinheiros na stackbithttps://consultorio.bitcoinheiros.com para marcar uma consulta com o nosso urso Dov00:00 Sala de espera03:20 Vídeo: Inflation Explained with Bananas05:33 Vídeo: Inflação explicada (para macacos que ainda não entenderam)08:07 Bloco 89451208:56 Banana é tóxica para macacos?09:39 Como se gera inflação monetária?12:02 Inflação como imposto invisível13:03 Sistemas inflacionários são melhores que sistemas baseados em impostos?16:29 Vício em crédito na economia fiat17:15 Qual objetivo das CBDCS?19:49 CBDCs já fracassaram?21:03 Quais foram as causas do apagão elétrico na Europa?24:47 Evite lugares com problema estruturais de energia elétrica25:50 Apagão elétrico na Europa afetou o Bitcoin?31:20 Proposta para remover limite do OP_RETURN no Bitcoin Core: o que muda?37:48 Problemas do limite de tamanho do OP_RETURN39:01 O que aconteceu com os Ordinals?40:39 Ainda existe NFT?43:02 Registrar dados na blockchain do Bitcoin: vale a pena?45:22 Ainda é cedo para entrar no Bitcoin?49:28 Mercado atual do Bitcoin: tendências de preço52:50 Proof-of-Reserves: a Strategy comprova reservas?54:37 Mudanças no Bitcoin Core: impactos técnicos57:32 Queima de bitcoins para proteger a rede: viabilidade e riscos59:57 Quanto tempo levaria para cada indivíduo mover suas UTOXs para um no endereço?1:00:26 Como proteger o Bitcoin contra a computação quântica?1:02:41 Por que não reutilizar endereços no Bitcoin?1:04:09 Onde acompanhar debates sobre Bitcoin e computação quântica?1:05:18 Shitcoins e computação quântica: shitcoins se preocupam com segurança futura?1:06:34 Raicher deu início ao movimento masculinista no Brasil?1:07:03 Bitcoin realinha incentivos em relacionamentos: teoria de incentivos econômicos1:09:01 Correlação entre Bitcoin e M2 global1:14:49 Riscos de alavancagem em Bitcoin1:17:09 É possível prever o preço do bitcoin?1:18:15 Brasil pode se beneficiar da guerra fiscal entre EUA e China?1:21:37 Governos podem forçar mudanças no protocolo Bitcoin? probabilidade e consequências1:23:38 Mineradores vs nodes: poder de governança na rede Bitcoin1:26:05 Ataque de cartel sofrido pelo Bitcoin1:28:27 Gregory Maxwell no Bitcoin e redes sociais: influência técnica e debates1:32:30 Vale a pena com ações da Méliuz?1:36:24 Garagem cabalistica do Raicher1:37:34 Terra plana faz mais sentido que Ethereum?1:38:17 Empresas brasileiras que acumulam Bitcoin1:41:02 Vale a pena vender bitcoin para recomprar na baixa?1:46:25 Perigos do trade de Bitcoin1:50:00 Por que o preço da Monero subiu?1:53:57 Problemas da chainalysis no Bitcoin1:58:00 Vídeo: Richard – Rules Without Rulers ft. Adam CurryInscreva-se em nosso canal de cortes "Bitcoinheiros HASH"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC82m2TCXSHWcqSLym5BzjLQSe você não tem uma carteira Bitcoin ou Lightning, veja opções aqui:https://bitcoinheiros.com/projetos-recomendados/SIGA OS BITCOINHEIROS:Site: https://www.bitcoinheiros.comTwitter: https://www.x.com/bitcoinheirosISENÇÃO DE RESPONSABILIDADE:Este conteúdo foi preparado para fins meramente informativos.NÃO é uma recomendação financeira nem de investimento.As opiniões apresentadas são apenas opiniões.Faça sua própria pesquisa.Não nos responsabilizamos por qualquer decisão de investimento que você tomar ou ação que você executar inspirada em nossos vídeos.

The path to progressing as a leader isn't always linear. SUMMARY Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott shows how a childhood dream can evolve into a lifetime of impact—from commanding in uniform to leading innovation in healthcare and national defense. Hear more on Long Blue Leadership. Listen now!   SHARE THIS PODCAST LINKEDIN  |  FACEBOOK   MIKE'S LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS A leader worth his or her salt should be comfortable not being the smartest person in the room. Striving for a lack of hubris is essential in leadership. Setting a clear vision is a fundamental leadership skill. Moving people without authority is crucial for effective leadership. Resource management is key to achieving organizational goals. Acknowledging what you don't know is a strength in leadership. Effective leaders focus on guiding their teams rather than asserting dominance. Leadership is about influencing and inspiring others. A successful mission requires collaboration and shared vision. True leadership is about empowering others to succeed.   CHAPTERS 00:00: Early Inspiration 06:32: Academy Years 13:17: Military Career Transition 21:33: Financial Services Journey 31:29: MOBE and Healthcare Innovation 40:12: Defense Innovation Unit 48:42: Philanthropy and Community Impact 58:11: Personal Growth and Leadership Lessons   ABOUT MIKE OTT BIO Mike Ott is the Chief Executive Officer of MOBĒ, a U.S.-based company focused on whole-person health and care-management solutions. He became CEO in April 2022, taking the helm to lead the company through growth and operational excellence following a distinguished career in both the military and corporate sectors.  A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Mike served as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves before shifting into financial services and healthcare leadership roles including private wealth management at U.S. Bank and executive positions with UnitedHealth Group/Optum. His leadership ethos emphasizes alignment, acceleration, and human potential, building cultures where teams can thrive and leveraging data-driven models to improve health outcomes.   CONNECT WITH MIKE LinkedIn MOBE CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Send your feedback or nominate a guest: socialmedia@usafa.org Ted Robertson | Producer:  Ted.Robertson@USAFA.org    Ryan Hall | Director:  Ryan.Hall@USAFA.org  Bryan Grossman | Copy Editor:  Bryan.Grossman@USAFA.org Wyatt Hornsby | Executive Producer:  Wyatt.Hornsby@USAFA.org      ALL PAST LBL EPISODES  |  ALL LBLPN PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS     OUR SPEAKERS Guest, Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott '85  |  Host, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99   FULL TRANSCRIPT Naviere Walkewicz 0:00 A quick programming note before we begin this episode of Long Blue Leadership: This episode will be audio-only, so sit back and enjoy the listen. Welcome to Long Blue Leadership, the podcast where we share insights on leadership through the lives and experiences of Air Force Academy graduates. I'm Naviere Walkewicz, Class of '99. Today, on Long Blue Leadership, we welcome Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott, Class of 1985, a leader whose vision was sparked at just 9 years old during a family road trip past the Air Force Academy. That childhood dream carried him through a 24-year Air Force career, culminating in retirement as a colonel and into a life of leadership across business, innovation and philanthropy. Mike is the CEO of MOBE, a groundbreaking company that uses data analytics and a revolutionary pay-for-results model to improve health outcomes while reducing costs. He also serves as a senior adviser to the Defense Innovation Unit, supporting the secretary of defense in accelerating commercial innovation for national security. A member of the Forbes Councils, Mike shares his expertise with leaders around the world. A former Falcon Foundation trustee and longtime supporter of the Academy, Mike has given generously his time, talents and resources to strengthen the Long Blue Line. His story is one of innovation and service in uniform, in the marketplace and in his community. Mike, welcome to Long Blue Leadership. We're so glad to have you here.   Mike Ott 1:29 Naviere, thanks a ton. I'm glad to be here. Naviere Walkewicz 1:31 Yes, yes. Well, we're really excited. I mean, you're here for your 40th reunion.   Mike Ott 1:35 Yeah, it's crazy.   Naviere Walkewicz1:37 You came right in, and we're so pleased that you would join us here first for this podcast.   Mike Ott 1:39 Right on. Thanks for the time.   Naviere Walkewicz 1:41 Absolutely. Well, let's jump right in, because not many people can say at 9 years old they know what they want to do when they grew up, but you did. Mike Ott 1:48 Yeah. I guess some people can say it; might not be true, but for me, it's true, good or bad. And goodness gracious, right? Here for my 40th reunion, do the math team, and as a 9-year-old, that was 1972, And a lot was going on in the world in 1972 whether it was political unrest, Vietnam and all of that, and the Academy was in the thick of it. And so we had gone — It was our first significant family vacation. My father was a Chicago policeman. We drove in the 1968 Buick LaSabre, almost straight through. Stopped, stayed at a Holiday Inn, destination Colorado, simply, just because nobody had ever seen the mountains before. That was why. And we my parents, mom, mom and dad took myself. I have two younger sisters, Pikes Peak, Academy, Garden of the Gods, Royal Gorge. And I remember noon meal formation, and the bell going off. Guys at the time — we hadn't had women as cadets at that point in time — running out in their flight suits as I recall lining up ready to go. And for me, it was the energy, right, the sense of, “Wow, this is something important.” I didn't know exactly how important it was, but I knew it was important, and I could envision even at that age, there was they were doing good, Naviere Walkewicz 3:21 Wow. Nine years old, your family went on vacation, and it just struck you as this is important and something that I want to do. So what did that conversation look like after that experience that you had as a 9-year-old and kind of manifest this in yourself? How did that go with your parents? Mike Ott 3:36 Well, I didn't say too much about it, as I was in grammar school, but as high school hit, you know, I let my folks know what my plans were, and I had mom and dad — my mother's still alive, my father passed about a year ago. Very, very good, hard-working, ethical people, but hadn't gone to college, and we had been told, “Look, you know, you need to get an education.” They couldn't. I wish they had. They were both very, very, very bright, and so I knew college was a plan. I also knew there wasn't a lot of money to pay for it. So I'm certain that that helped bake in a few things. But as I got into high school, I set my sights. I went to public high school in Chicago, and I remember freshman year walking into my counselor's office, and said, “I want to go to the Air Force Academy,” and he kind of laughed.   Naviere Walkewicz 3:21 Really?   Mike Ott 3:22 Well, we had 700 kids in my class, and maybe 40% went on to college, right? And the bulk of them went to community college or a state school. I can count on one hand the number of folks that went to an academy or an Ivy League school or something of that. So it was it was around exposure. It had nothing to do with intelligence. It was exposure and just what these communities were accustomed to. A lot of folks went into the trades and pieces like that. So my counselor's reaction wasn't one of shock or surprise insofar as that's impossible. It was, “We haven't had a lot of people make that commitment this early on, and I'm glad to help.”   Naviere Walkewicz 5:18 Oh, I love that.   Mike Ott 5:19 Which is wonderful, and what I had known at the time, Mr. Needham...   Naviere Walkewicz 5:23 You Remember his name?   Mike Ott 5:24 Yeah, he was in the Navy Reserves. He was an officer, so he got the joke. He got the joke and helped me work through what classes to take, how to push myself. I didn't need too much guidance there. I determined, “Well, I've got to distinguish myself.” And I like to lean in. I like a headwind, and I don't mind a little bit of an uphill battle, because once you get up there, you feel great. I owe an awful lot to him. And, not the superintendent, but the principal of our school was a gentleman named Sam Ozaki, and Sam was Japanese American interned during World War II as a young man, got to of service age and volunteered and became a lieutenant in the Army and served in World War II in Europe, right, not in Asia. So he saw something in me. He too became an advocate. He too became someone that sought to endorse, support or otherwise guide me. Once I made that claim that I was going to go to the Academy. Naviere Walkewicz 6:30 Wow. So you mentioned something that really stuck with me. You said, you know, you didn't mind kind of putting yourself out there and doing the hard things, because you knew when you got to the top it was going to feel really great. Was that something you saw from your father? Was that something, there are key leaders in your life that emulated that? Or is that just something that you always had in yourself? Mike Ott 6:51 I would say there's certainly an environmental element to it — how I was raised, what I was exposed to, and then juxtaposition as to what I observed with other family members or other parts of the community where things didn't work out very well, right? And, you know, I put two and two together. y father demonstrated, throughout his entire career what it means to have a great work ethic. As did mom and, you know, big, tough Chicago cop for 37 years. But the other thing that I learned was kindness, and you wouldn't expect to learn that from the big, tough Chicago cop, but I think it was environment, observing what didn't occur very often and how hard work, if I apply myself, can create outcomes that are going to be more fulfilling for me. Naviere Walkewicz 7:48 Wow, you talked about kindness. How did you see kindness show up in your journey as a cadet at the Air Force Academy? Or did you? Mike Ott 7:58 Yeah, gosh, so I remember, started in June of 1981, OK, and still connected with many of the guys and women that with whom I went to basic training and all that. The first moment of kindness that I experienced that it was a mutual expression, but one where I recognized, “Wow, every one of us is new here. None of us has a real clue.” We might have some idea because we had somebody had a sibling or a mother that was in the military or father that went to the academy at the time, but none of us really knew, right? We were knuckleheads, right? Eighteen years old. Maybe there were a couple of prior-enlisted folks. I don't recall much of that, but I having gone to a public high school in Chicago, where we had a variety of different ethnicities. I learned how to just understand people for who they are, meet them for who they are, and respect every individual. That's how I was raised, and that's how I exhibited myself, I sought to conduct myself in high school. So I get to the Academy, and you're assigned, you know, the first couple three nights, the first few weeks before you go to Jacks Valley, you're assigned. It was all a alphabetical, and my roommate was an African American fellow named Kevin Nixon. All right, my God, Kevin Nixon, and this guy, he was built. I mean, he was rock solid, right? And he had that 1000-yard stare, right? Very intimidating. And I'm this, like, 6-foot-tall, 148-pound runner, like, holy dork, right? And I'm assigned — we're roommates, and he just had a very stoicism, or a stoic nature about him. And I remember, it was our second night at the Academy, maybe first night, I don't quite recall, and we're in bed, and it's an hour after lights out, and I hear him crying, and like, well, what do you do? Like, we're in this together. It was that moment, like we're both alone, but we're not right. He needs to know that he's not alone. So I walked around and went over his bed, and I said, “Hey, man, I miss my mom and dad too. Let's talk. And we both cried, right? And I'll tell you what, he and I were pals forever. It was really quite beautiful. And what didn't happen is he accepted my outreach, right? And he came from a very difficult environment, one where I'm certain there was far more racial strife than I had experienced in Chicago. He came from Norfolk, Virginia, and he came from — his father worked in the shipyards and really, really tough, tough, tough background. He deserved to be the Academy. He was a great guy, very bright, and so we became friends, and I tried to be kind. He accepted that kindness and reciprocated in ways where he created a pretty beautiful friendship. Naviere Walkewicz 7:48 Oh, my goodness. Thank you for sharing that story. And you got me in the feels a little bit, because I remember those nights, even you know me having family members that went through the Academy. There's just something about when you're in it yourself, and in that moment, it's raw.   Mike Ott 11:13 Raw is a good word. Naviere Walkewicz 11:15 Oh, thank you for that. So you're at the Academy and you end up doing 24 years. I don't mean to, like, mash all that into one sentence, but let's talk… Mike Ott 11:22 I didn't do very much. It was the same year repeated 24 times over. Like, not a very good learner, right? Not a very good learner. Naviere Walkewicz 11:30 Yeah, I was gonna ask, you know, in that journey, because, had you planned to do a career in the Air Force? Mike Ott 11:36 Well, I didn't know, right? I went in, eyes wide open, and my cumulative time in the Air Force is over 24 but it was only it was just shy of seven active duty, and then 22, 23, in the Reserves, right? I hadn't thought about the Reserves, but I had concluded, probably at the, oh, maybe three-year mark that I wanted to do other things. It had nothing to do with disdain, a sense of frustration or any indignation, having gone to the Academy, which I'm very, very proud of, and it meant an awful lot to who I am. But it was, “Wait, this is, this is my shot, and I'm going to go try other things.” I love ambiguity, I'm very curious. Have a growth mindset and have a perhaps paradoxical mix of being self-assured, but perhaps early on, a bit too, a bit too, what's the word I was thinking of? I wrote this down — a bit too measured, OK, in other words, risk taking. And there were a few instances where I realized, “Hey, man, dude, take some risk. What's the downside? And if it isn't you, who else?” So it was that mindset that helped me muscle through and determine that, coupled with the fact that the Air Force paid for me to go to graduate school, they had programs in Boston, and so I got an MBA, and I did that at night. I had a great commander who let me take classes during the day when I wasn't traveling. It was wonderful. It was there that I was exposed to elements of business and in financial services, which ultimately drew me into financial services when I separated from active duty. Naviere Walkewicz 13:17 Well, I love that, because first you talked about a commander that saw, “How can I help you be your best version of yourself?” And I think the other piece of financial service, because I had to dabble in that as well — the second word is service. And so you've never stopped serving in all the things that you've done. So you took that leap, that risk. Is that something that you felt developed while you're at the Academy, or it's just part of your ethos. Mike Ott 13:41 It developed. It matured. I learned how to apply it more meaningfully at the Academy after a couple, three moments, where I realized that I can talk a little bit about mentoring and then I can come back to that, but mentoring — I don't know, I don't recall having heard that term as a mechanism for helping someone develop. I'm sure we used it when I was a cadet at the Academy and out of the Academy, and having been gone through different programs and banking and different graduate programs, the term comes up an awful lot. You realize, wow, there's something there helping the next generation, but also the reciprocity of learning from that generation yourself. I didn't really understand the whole mentoring concept coming out of Chicago and getting here, and just thought things were very hierarchical, very, very command structure, and it was hit the standards or else. And that that's not a bad mindset, right? But it took me a little while to figure out that there's a goodness factor that comes with the values that we have at the Academy, and it's imbued in each one of you know, service excellence, all of those pieces. But for the most part, fellow cadets and airmen and women want to help others. I mean, it's in service. It's in our DNA. Man that blew right past me. I had no idea, and I remember at one point I was entering sophomore year, and I was asked to be a glider instructor. I'd done the soaring and jumping program over the summer, and like, “Hey, you know you're not too bad at glider. You want to be an instructor?” At the time, that was pretty big deal, yeah, glider instructors. Like, “Yeah, no, I'm not going to do that, you know? I've got to study. Like, look at my GPA.” That didn't really matter. “And I'm going to go up to Boulder and go chase women.” Like, I was going to meet women, right? So, like, but I didn't understand that, that that mechanism, that mentoring mechanism, isn't always bestowed upon a moment or a coupling of individuals. There are just good people out there that see goodness in others that want to help them through that. I had no clue, but that was a turning point for me.   Naviere Walkewicz 15:56 Because you said no.   Mike Ott 15:58 I said no, right? And it was like what, you know, a couple months later, I remember talking with somebody like, “Yep, swing and a miss,” right? But after that, it changed how I was going to apply this self-assuredness, not bravado, but willingness to try new things, but with a willingness to be less measured. Why not? Trust the system. Trust the environment that you're in, the environment that we're in, you were in, I was in, that we're representing right now, it is a trusted environment. I didn't know that. And there were a lot of environments when I was being raised, they weren't trusted environments. And so you have a sort of mental callous mindset in many ways, and that that vigilance, that sense of sentinel is a good protection piece, but it prevents, it prevents... It doesn't allow for the membrane to be permeated, right? And so that trust piece is a big deal. I broke through after that, and I figured it out, and it helped me, and it helped me connect a sense of self-assuredness to perhaps being less measured, more willing to take ambiguity. You can be self-assured but not have complete belief in yourself, OK? And it helped me believe in myself more. I still wish I'd have been glider instructor. What a knucklehead. My roommate wound up becoming one. Like, “You, son of a rat, you.”   Naviere Walkewicz 17:29 So tell me, when did the next opportunity come up where you said yes, and what did that look like in your journey? Mike Ott 17:36 I was a lieutenant. I was a lieutenant, and I was looking for a new role. I was stationed at Hanscom Field, and I was working at one program office, and I bumped — I was the athletic officer for the base with some other folks, and one of the colonels was running a different program, and he had gotten to know me and understand how I operated, what I did, and he said, “Hey, Ott, I want you to come over to my program.” And I didn't know what the program was, but I trusted him, and I did it blindly. I remember his name, Col. Holy Cross. And really good guy. And yeah, I got the tap on the shoulder. Didn't blink. Didn't blink. So that was just finishing up second lieutenant. Naviere Walkewicz 18:26 What a lesson. I mean, something that stuck with you as a cadet, and not that it manifested in regret, but you realized that you missed that opportunity to grow and experience and so when it came around again, what a different… So would you say that as you progress, then you know, because at this point you're a lieutenant, you know, you took on this new role, what did you learn about yourself? And then how did that translate to the decision to move from active duty to the Reserve and into… Mike Ott 18:56 You'll note what I didn't do when I left active duty was stay in the defense, acquisition, defense engineering space. I made a hard left turn…   Naviere Walkewicz 19:13 Intentionally.   Mike Ott 19:14 Intentionally. And went into financial services. And that is a hard left turn away from whether it's military DOD, military industrial complex, working for one of the primes, or something like that. And my mindset was, “If I'm not the guy in the military making the decision, setting strategy and policy…” Like I was an O-3. Like, what kind of policy am I setting? Right? But my point was, if I'm not going to, if I may, if I decided to not stay in the military, I wasn't going to do anything that was related to the military, right, like, “Let's go to green pastures. Set myself apart. Find ways to compete…” Not against other people. I don't think I need to beat the hell out of somebody. I just need to make myself better every day. And that's the competition that I just love, and I love it  it's greenfield unknown. And why not apply my skills in an area where they haven't been applied and I can learn? So as an active-duty person — to come back and answer your question — I had worked some great bosses, great bosses, and they would have career counseling discussions with me, and I was asked twice to go to SOS in-residence. I turned it down, you know, as I knew. And then the third time my boss came to me. He's like, “OK, what are you doing? Idiot. Like, what are you doing?” That was at Year 5. And I just said, “Hey, sir, I think I'm going to do something different.” Naviere Walkewicz 20:47 Didn't want to take the slot from somebody else.   Mike Ott 20:49 That's right. Right. And so then it was five months, six months later, where I put in my papers. I had to do a little more time because of the grad school thing, which is great. And his commander, this was a two-star that I knew as well, interviewed me and like, one final, like, “What are you doing?” He's like, “You could have gone so far in the Air Force.” And I looked at the general — he was a super-good dude. I said, “What makes you think I'm not going to do well outside of the Air Force?” And he smiled. He's like, “Go get it.” So we stayed in touch. Great guy. So it had nothing to do with lack of fulfillment or lack of satisfaction. It had more to do with newness, curiosity, a challenge in a different vein. Naviere Walkewicz 21:30 So let's walk into that vein. You entered into this green pasture. What was that experience like? Because you've just been in something so structured. And I mean, would you say it was just structured in a different way? Mike Ott 21:48 No, not structured. The industry… So, I separated, tried an engineering job for about eight months. Hated it. I was, I was development engineer at Ford Motor Company, great firm. Love the organization, bored stiff, right? Just not what I wanted to do, and that's where I just quit. Moved back to Chicago, where I'm from, and started networking and found a role with an investment bank, ABN AMRO, which is a large Dutch investment bank that had begun to establish itself in the United States. So their headquarters in Chicago and I talked fast enough where somebody took a bet on me and was brought into the investment banking arm where I was on the capital markets team and institutional equities. So think of capital markets, and think of taking companies public and distributing those shares to large institutions, pensions funds, mutual funds, family offices.   Naviere Walkewicz 22:48 So a lot of learning and excitement for you.   Mike Ott 22:51 Super fun. And so the industry is very structured. How capital is established, capital flows, very regulated. We've got the SEC, we've got the FDIC, a lot of complex regulations and compliance matters. That's very, very, very structured. But there was a free-wheelingness in the marketplace. And if you've seen Wolf of Wall Street and things like that, some of that stuff happened. Crazy! And I realized that with my attitude, sense of placing trust in people before I really knew them, figuring that, “OK, what's the downside? I get nipped in the fan once, once or twice. But if I can thrust trust on somebody and create a relationship where they're surprised that I've trusted them, it's probably going to build something reciprocal. So learn how to do that.” And as a young fellow on the desk, wound up being given more responsibility because I was able to apply some of the basic tenets of leadership that you learned and I learned at the Academy. And face it, many of the men and women that work on Wall Street or financial services simply haven't gone to the Academy. It's just, it's the nature of numbers — and don't have that experience. They have other experiences. They have great leadership experiences, but they don't have this. And you and I may take it for granted because we were just four years of just living through it. It oozed in every moment, every breath, every interaction, every dialog, it was there.But we didn't know it was being poured in, sprinkled across as being showered. We were being showered in it. But I learned how to apply that in the relationships that I built, knowing that the relationships that I built and the reputation that I built would be lasting and impactful and would be appropriate investments for the future endeavors, because there's always a future, right? So it wasn't… again, lot of compliance, lot of regulations, but just the personalities. You know, I did it for the challenge, right? I did it because I was curious. I did it because I wanted to see if I could succeed at it. There were other folks that did it simply because it was for the money. And many, some of them made it. They might have sold their soul to get there. Some didn't make it. Maybe it wasn't the right pursuit for them in the first place. And if I go back to mentoring, which we talked about a little bit, and I help young men and women, cadets or maybe even recent grads, my guidance to them is, don't chase the money, chase the environment, right? And chase the environment that allows you to find your flow and contribute to that environment. The money will come. But I saw it — I've seen it with grads. I've seen it with many of the folks that didn't make it in these roles in financial services, because I thought, “Hey, this is where the money is.” It might be. But you have to go back to the basis of all this. How are you complected? What are your values? Do they align with the environment that you're in? And can you flow in a way where your strengths are going to allow success to happen and not sell your soul? Naviere Walkewicz 26:26 Yeah, you said two things that really stood out to me in that —the first one was, you know, trusting, just starting from a place of trust and respect, because the opportunity to build a relationship faster, and also there's that potential for future something. And then the second thing is the environment and making sure it aligns with your values. Is that how you got to MOBE? Mike Ott 26:50 Yeah, I would say how I got to MOBE, that certainly was a factor. Good question.   Naviere Walkewicz 26:57 The environment, I feel, is very much aligned Mike Ott 27:00 Very much so and then… But there's an element of reputation and relationship that allowed me to get there. So now I'm lucky to be a part of this firm. We're 250 people. We will do $50 million of revenue. We're growing nicely. I've been in health care for four years. Now, we are we're more than just healthcare. I mean, it's deep data. We can get into some of that later, but I had this financial services background. I was drawn to MOBE, but I had established a set of relationships with people at different investment banks, with other families that had successfully built businesses and just had relationships. And I was asked to come on to the board because MOBE, at the time, great capabilities, but struggled with leadership during COVID. Lot of companies did. It's not an indictment as to the prior CEO, but he and the team struggled to get through COVID. So initially I was approached to come on to the board, and that was through the founders of the firm who had known me for 20 years and knew my reputation, because I'd done different things at the investment bank, I'd run businesses at US Bank, which is a large commercial bank within the country, and they needed someone that… They cared very little about health care experience, which is good for me, and it was more around a sense of leadership. They knew my values. They trusted me. So initially I was asked to come onto the board, and that evolved into, “No, let's just do a whole reset and bring you on as the CEO.” Well, let's go back to like, what makes me tick. I love ambiguity. I love a challenge. And this has been a bit of a turnaround in that great capabilities, but lost its way in COVID, because leadership lost its way. So there's a lot of resetting that needed to occur. Corpus of the firm, great technology, great capabilities, but business model adaptation, go to market mechanisms and, frankly, environment. Environment. But I was drawn to the environment because of the people that had founded the organization. The firm was incubated within a large pharmaceutical firm. This firm called Upsher-Smith, was a Minnesota firm, the largest private and generic pharmaceutical company in the country, and sold for an awful lot of money, had been built by this family, sold in 2017 and the assets that are MOBE, mostly data, claims, analysis capabilities stayed separate, and so they incubated that, had a little bit of a data sandbox, and then it matriculated to, “Hey, we've got a real business here.” But that family has a reputation, and the individuals that founded it, and then ultimately found MOBE have a reputation. So I was very comfortable with the ambiguity of maybe not knowing health care as much as the next guy or gal, but the environment I was going into was one where I knew this family and these investors lived to high ethical standards, and there's many stories as to how I know that, but I knew that, and that gave me a ton of comfort. And then it was, “We trust you make it happen. So I got lucky. Naviere Walkewicz 30:33 Well, you're, I think, just the way that you're wired and the fact that you come from a place of trust, obviously, you know, OK, I don't have the, you know, like the medical background, but there are a lot of experts here that I'm going to trust to bring that expertise to me. And I'm going to help create an environment that they can really thrive in. Mike Ott 30:47 I'm certain many of our fellow alum have been in this experience, had these experiences where a leader worth his or her salt should be comfortable not being the smartest gal or guy in the room. In fact, you should strive for that to be the case and have a sense of lack of hubris and proudly acknowledge what you don't know. But what I do know is how to set vision. What I do know is how to move people without authority. What I do know is how to resource. And that's what you do if you want to move a mission, whether it's in the military, small firm like us that's getting bigger, or, you know, a big organization. You can't know it all. Naviere Walkewicz 31:30 So something you just mentioned that I think a lot of our listeners would really like, would love a little bit to peel us back a little bit. You said, “I know how to set a vision. I know how to…” I think it was move…   Mike Ott 31:45 Move people without authority and prioritize.   Naviere Walkewicz 31:47 But can we talk a little bit about that? Because I think that is really a challenge that some of our you know younger leaders, or those early in their leadership roles struggle with. Maybe, can you talk a little bit about that? Mike Ott 32:01 For sure, I had some — again, I tried to do my best to apply all the moments I had at the Academy and the long list of just like, “What were you thinking?” But the kindness piece comes through and… Think as a civilian outside looking in. They look at the military. It's very, very, very structured, OK, but the best leaders the men and women for whom you and I have served underneath or supported, never once barked an order, OK? They expressed intent, right? And you and I and all the other men and women in uniform, if we were paying attention, right, sought to execute the mission and satisfaction of that intent and make our bosses' bosses' jobs easier. That's really simple. And many outsiders looking in, we get back to just leadership that are civilians. They think, “Oh my gosh, these men and women that are in the military, they just can't assimilate. They can't make it in the civilian world.” And they think, because we come from this very, very hierarchical organization, yes, it is very hierarchical — that's a command structure that's necessary for mission execution — but the human part, right? I think military men and women leaders are among the best leaders, because guess what? We're motivating men and women — maybe they get a pat on the back. You didn't get a ribbon, right? Nobody's getting a year-end bonus, nobody's getting a spot bonus, nobody's getting equity in the Air Force, and it's gonna go public, right? It's just not that. So the best men and women that I for whom I've worked with have been those that have been able to get me to buy in and move and step up, and want to demonstrate my skills in coordination with others, cross functionally in the organization to get stuff done. And I think if there's anything we can remind emerging graduates, you know, out of the Academy, is: Don't rely on rank ever. Don't rely on rank. I had a moment: I was a dorky second lieutenant engineer, and we were launching a new system. It was a joint system for Marines, Navy and Air Force, and I had to go from Boston to Langley quite often because it was a TAC-related system, Tactical Air Force-related system. And the I was the program manager, multi-million dollar program for an interesting radio concept. And we were putting it into F-15s, so in some ground-based situations. And there was this E-8, crusty E-8, smoked, Vietnam, all these things, and he was a comms dude, and one of the systems was glitching. It just wasn't working, right? And we were getting ready to take this thing over somewhere overseas. And he pulls alongside me, and it's rather insubordinate, but it was a test, right? He's looking at me, Academy guy, you know, second lieutenant. He was a master sergeant, and he's like, “Well, son, what are we going to do now?” In other words, like, “We're in a pickle. What are we going to do now?” But calling me son. Yeah, it's not appropriate, right? If I'd have been hierarchical and I'd relied on rank, I probably would have been justified to let him have it. Like, that's playing short ball, right? I just thought for a second, and I just put my arm around him. I said, “Gee, Dad, I was hoping you're gonna help me.” And mother rat, we figured it out, and after that, he was eating out of my hand. So it was a test, right? Don't be afraid to be tested but don't take the bait. Naviere Walkewicz 35:46 So many good just lessons in each of these examples. Can you share a time at MOBE when you've seen someone that has been on your team that has demonstrated that because of the environment you've created? Mike Ott 35:57 For sure. So I've been running the firm now for about three and a half years. Again, have adapted and enhanced our capabilities, changed the business model a bit, yet functioning in our approach to the marketplace remains the same. We help people get better, and we get paid based on the less spend they have in the system. Part of some of our principles at MOBE are pretty simple, like, eat, sleep, move, smile, all right. And then be thoughtful with your medication. We think that medicine is an aid, not a cure. Your body's self-healing and your mind controls your body.   Naviere Walkewicz 36:32 Eat, sleep, move, smile. Love that.   Mike Ott 36:35 So what's happening with MOBE, and what I've seen is the same is true with how I've altered our leadership team. I've got some amazing leaders — very, very, very accomplished. But there are some new leaders because others just didn't fit in. There wasn't the sense of communal trust that I expected. There was too much, know-it-all'ing going on, right? And I just won't have that. So the easiest way to diffuse that isn't about changing head count, but it's around exhibiting vulnerability in front of all these folks and saying, “Look, I don't know that, but my lead pharmacist here, my lead clinician here, helped me get through those things.” But I do have one leader right, who is our head of vice president of HR, a woman who grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, who has come to myself and our president and shared that she feels liberated at MOBE because, though this firm is larger than one that she served as a director of HR, previously, she's never had to look — check her six, look right, look left and seek alignment to ensure she's harmonizing with people. Naviere Walkewicz 37:49 Can you imagine being in an environment like that? Mike Ott 38:51 It's terrible, it's toxic, and it's wrong. Leaders, within the organization, I think you're judged more by what you don't do and the actions that you don't take. You can establish trust, and you will fortify that trust when you share with the team as best you can, so long as it's nothing inappropriate, where you made a mistake, where we went wrong. What did we learn from that? Where are we going to pivot? How we're going to apply that learning to make it better, as opposed to finding blame, pointing the finger or not even acknowledging? That happens all the time, and that toxicity erodes. And regretfully, my VP of HR in prior roles experienced that, and I don't have time. Good teams shouldn't have time to rehearse the basic values of the firm. We don't have time the speed of business is like this [snaps]. So if I can build the team of men and women that trust one another, can stay in their lanes, but also recognize that they're responsible for helping run the business, and look over at the other lanes and help their fellow leaders make adjustments without the indictful comment or without sort of belittling or shaming. That's what good teams, do. You, and I did that in the Air Force, but it is not as common as you would think. Naviere Walkewicz 39:11 20 we've been talking about MOBE, and you know, the environment you're creating there, and just the way that you're working through innovation. Let's talk a little bit how you're involved with DIU, the Defense Innovation Unit. Mike Ott 39:21 Again, it's reputation in relationships. And it was probably 2010, I get a call from a fellow grad, '87 grad who was living in the Beltway, still in uniform. He was an O-5 I was an O-5. Just doing the Academy liaison work, helping good young men and women that wanted to go to the Academy get in. And that was super satisfying, thought that would be the end of my Reserve career and super fun. And this is right when the first Obama administration came in, and one of his edicts and his admin edicts was, we've got to find ways to embrace industry more, right? We can't rely on the primes, just the primes. So those were just some seeds, and along with a couple other grads, created what is now called Joint Reserve Directorate, which was spawned DIUX, which was DIU Experimental, is spawned from. So I was the owner for JRD, and DIUX as a reserve officer. And that's how we all made colonel is we were working for the chief technology officer of the Defense Department, the Hon. Zach Lemnios, wonderful fellow. Civilian, didn't have much military experience, but boy, the guy knew tech — semiconductors and areas like that. But this was the beginning of the United States recognizing that our R&D output, OK, in the aggregate, as a fund, as a percentage of GDP, whether it's coming out of the commercial marketplace or the military DoD complex, needs to be harnessed against the big fight that we have with China. We can see, you know, we've known about that for 30 years. So this is back 14 years ago. And the idea was, let's bring in men and women — there was a woman in our group too that started this area — and was like, “How do we create essential boundary span, boundary spanners, or dual-literacy people that are experiences in capital markets, finance, how capital is accumulated, innovation occurs, but then also how that applies into supporting the warfighter. So we were given a sandbox. We were given a blank slate.   Naviere Walkewicz 41:37 It's your happy place.   Mike Ott 41:38 Oh, super awesome. And began to build out relationships at Silicon Valley with commercial entities, and developed some concepts that are now being deployed with DIU and many other people came in and brought them all to life. But I was lucky enough after I retired from the Reserves as a colonel to be asked to come back as an adviser, because of that background and that experience, the genesis of the organization. So today I'm an unpaid SGE — special government employee — to help DIU look across a variety of different domains. And so I'm sure many of our listeners know it's key areas that we've got to harness the commercial marketplace. We know that if you go back into the '70s, ‘60s and ‘70s, and creation of the internet, GPS, precision munitions and all of that, the R&D dollars spent in the aggregate for the country, 95% came out of DOD is completely flip flopped today. Completely flipped. We happen to live in an open, free society. We hope to have capital markets and access a lot of that technology isn't burdened like it might be in China. And so that's the good and bad of this open society that we have. We've got to find ways. So we, the team does a lot of great work, and I just help them think about capital markets, money flows, threat finance. How you use financial markets to interdict, listen, see signals, but then also different technologies across cyberspace, autonomy, AI. Goodness gracious, I'm sure there's a few others. There's just so much. So I'm just an interloper that helps them think about that, and it's super fun that they think that I can be helpful. Naviere Walkewicz 43:29 Well, I think I was curious on how, because you love the ambiguity, and that's just something that fills your bucket — so while you're leading MOBE and you're creating something very stable, it sounds like DIU and being that kind of special employee, government employee, helps you to fill that need for your ambiguous side.   Mike Ott 43:48 You're right. You're right.   Naviere Walkewicz 43:49 Yeah, I thought that's really fascinating. Well, I think it's wonderful that you get to create that and you just said, the speed of business is this [snaps]. How do you find time in your life to balance what you also put your values around — your health — when you have such an important job and taking care of so many people? Mike Ott 44:06 I think we're all pretty disciplined at the Academy, right? I remain that way, and I'm very, very — I'm spring loaded to ‘no,' right? “Hey, do you want to go do this?” Yeah, I want to try do, I want to do a lot of things, but I'm spring loaded. So like, “Hey, you want to go out and stay, stay up late and have a drink?” “No,” right? “Do you want to do those things?” So I'm very, very regimented in that I get eight hours of sleep, right? And even somebody, even as a cadet, one of the nicknames my buddies gave me was Rip Van Ott, right? Because I'm like, “This is it.” I was a civil engineer. One of my roommates was an astro guy, and I think he pulled an all-nighter once a week.   Naviere Walkewicz 45:46 Oh, my goodness, yeah.   Mike Ott 45:50 Like, “Dude, what are you doing?” And it wasn't like he was straight As. I was clearly not straight As, but I'm like, “What are you doing? That's not helpful. Do the work ahead of time.” I think I maybe pulled three or four all-nighters my entire four years. Now, it's reflected in my GPA. I get that, but I finished the engineering degree. But sleep matters, right? And some things are just nonnegotiable, and that is, you know, exercise, sleep and be kind to yourself, right? Don't compare. If you're going to compare, compare yourself to yesterday, but don't look at somebody who is an F-15 pilot, and you're not. Like, I'm not. My roommate, my best man at my wedding, F-15 pilot, Test Pilot School, all these things, amazing, amazing, awesome, and super, really, really, happy and proud for him, but that's his mojo; that's his flow, right? If you're gonna do any comparison, compare yourself to the man or woman you were yesterday and “Am I better?”. Naviere Walkewicz 44:48 The power of “no” and having those nonnegotiables is really important. Mike Ott 45:53 Yeah, no, I'm not doing that. Naviere Walkewicz 45:56 I think sometimes we're wired for a “we can take on… we can take it on, we can take it on, we can take it on. We got this.” Mike Ott 46:03 For sure. Oh, my goodness. And I have that discussion with people on my team from time to time as well, and it's most often as it relates to an individual on the team that's struggling in his or her role, or whether it's by you know, if it's by omission and they're in the wrong role, that's one thing. If it's by commission, well, be a leader and execute and get that person out of there, right? That's wrong, but from time to time, it's by omission, and somebody is just not well placed. And I've seen managers, I can repatriate this person. I can get him or her there, and you have to stop for a second and tell that leader, “Yeah, I know you can. I'm certain that the only thing you were responsible for was to help that person fulfill the roles of the job that they're assigned. You could do it.” But guess what? You've got 90% of your team that needs care, nurturing and feeding. They're delivering in their function, neglect, there destroys careers, and it's going to destroy the business. So don't, don't get caught up in that. Yeah. Pack it on. Pack it on. Pack it on. You're right. When someone's in the crosshairs, I want to be in the crosshairs with you, Naviere, and Ted, and all the people that you and I affiliate with, but on the day-to-day, sustained basis, right to live, you know, to execute and be fulfilled, both in the mission, the work and stay fit, to fight and do it again. You can't. You can't. And a lot of a little bit of no goes a long way. Naviere Walkewicz 47:40 That is really good to hear. I think that's something that a lot of leaders really don't share. And I think that's really wonderful that you did. I'd like to take a little time and pivot into another area that you're heavily involved, philanthropy side. You know, you've been with the Falcon Foundation. Where did you find that intent inside of you? I mean, you always said the Academy's been part of you, but you found your way back in that space in other ways. Let's talk about that. Mike Ott 48:05 Sure. Thank you. I don't know. I felt that service is a part of me, right? And it is for all of us, whether you stay in the military or not. Part of my financial services jobs have been in wealth management. I was lucky enough to run that business for US Bank in one of my capacities, and here I am now in health care, health care of service. That aligns with wanting things to be better across any other angle. And the philanthropic, philanthropic side of things — I probably couldn't say that word when I was a cadet, but then, you know, I got out and we did different volunteer efforts. We were at Hanscom Field raising money for different organizations, and stayed with it, and always found ways to have fun with it. But recognized I couldn't… It was inefficient if I was going to be philanthropic around something that I didn't have a personal interest in. And as a senior executive at US Bank, we were all… It was tacit to the role you had roles in local foundations or community efforts. And I remember sitting down with my boss, the CFO of the bank, and then the CEO, and they'd asked me to go on to a board, and it had to do with a museum that I had no interest in, right? And I had a good enough relationship with these, with these guys, to say, “Look, I'm a good dude. I'm going to be helpful in supporting the bank. And if this is a have to, all right, I'll do it, but you got the wrong guy. Like, you want me to represent the bank passionately, you know, philanthropically, let me do this. And they're like, “OK, great.” So we pivoted, and I did other things. And the philanthropic piece of things is it's doing good. It's of service for people, entities, organizations, communities or moments that can use it. And I it's just very, very satisfying to me. So my wife and I are pretty involved that way, whether it's locally, with different organizations, lot of military support. The Academy, we're very fond of. It just kind of became a staple. Naviere Walkewicz 50:35 Did you find yourself also gravitating toward making better your community where you grew up? Mike Ott 50:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of my dear friends that grew up in the same neighborhood, he wound up going to the Naval Academy, and so we're we've been friends for 50 years. Seventh grade.   Naviere Walkewicz 50:53 Same counselor? Mike Ott50:54 Yeah, no. Different counselor, different high school. His parents had a little bit of money, and they, he wound up going to a Catholic school nearby. But great guy, and so he and I, he runs a business that serves the VA in Chicago, and I'm on the board, and we do an awful lot of work. And one of the schools we support is a school on the south side, largely African American students and helping them with different STEM projects. It's not going to hit above the fold of a newspaper, but I could give a rat, doesn't matter to me, seeing a difference, seeing these young men and women. One of them, one of these boys, it's eye watering, but he just found out that he was picked for, he's applying to the Naval Academy, and he just found out that he got a nomination.   Naviere Walkewicz 51:44 Oh my goodness, I just got chills.   Mike Ott 51:46 And so, yeah, yeah, right, right. But it's wonderful. And his parents had no idea anything like that even existed. So that's one that it's not terribly formal, but boy, it looks great when you see the smile on that kid and the impact on that individual, but then the impact it leaves on the community, because it's clear opportunity for people to aspire because they know this young man or this young woman, “I can do that too.” Naviere Walkewicz 52:22 Wow. So he got his nomination, and so he would start technically making class of 2030?   Mike Ott 52:27 That's right. Naviere Walkewicz 52:28 Oh, how exciting. OK Well, that's a wonderful…   Mike Ott 52:27 I hope, I hope, yeah, he's a great kid. Naviere Walkewicz 52:33 Oh, that is wonderful. So you talk about, you know that spirit of giving — how have you seen, I guess, in your journey, because it hasn't been linear. We talked about how you know progression is not linear. How have you grown throughout these different experiences? Because you kind of go into a very ambiguous area, and you bring yourself, and you grow in it and you make it better. But how have you grown? What does that look like for you? Mike Ott 53:02 After having done it several times, right, i.e. entering the fray of an ambiguous environment business situation, I developed a better system and understanding of what do I really need to do out of the gates? And I've grown that way and learn to not be too decisive too soon. Decisiveness is a great gift. It's really, really it's important. It lacks. It lacks because there are too many people, less so in the military, that want to be known for having made… don't want to be known for having made a bad decision, so they don't take that risk. Right, right, right. And so that creates just sort of the static friction, and you've just got to have faith and so, but I've learned how to balance just exactly when to be decisive. And the other thing that I know about me is I am drawn to ambiguity. I am drawn… Very, very curious. Love to learn, try new things, have a range of interests and not very good at any one thing, but that range helps me in critical thinking. So I've learned to, depending on the situation, right, listen, listen, and then go. It isn't a formula. It's a flow, but it's not a formula. And instinct matters when to be decisive. Nature of the people with whom you're working, nature of the mission, evolution, phase of the organization or the unit that you're in. Now is the time, right? So balancing fostering decisiveness is something that that's worth a separate discussion. Naviere Walkewicz 54:59 Right. Wow. So all of these things that you've experienced and the growth that you've had personally — do you think about is this? Is this important to you at all, the idea of, what is your legacy, or is that not? Mike Ott 55:13 We talked a little bit about this beforehand, and I thought I've got to come up with something pithy, right? And I really, I really don't.   Naviere Walkewicz 55:18 Yeah, you don't.   Mike Ott 55:19 I don't think of myself as that. I'm very proud of who I am and what I've done in the reputation that I have built. I don't need my name up in lights. I know the life that I'm living and the life that I hope to live for a lot longer. My legacy is just my family, my children, the mark that I've left in the organizations that I have been a part of.   Naviere Walkewicz 55:58 And the communities that you've touched, like that gentleman going and getting his nomination. I'm sure.   Mike Ott 56:04 Yeah, I don't… having been a senior leader, and even at MOBE, I'm interviewed by different newspapers and all that. Like I do it because I'm in this role, and it's important for MOBE, but I'm not that full of myself, where I got to be up in lights. So I just want to be known as a man that was trustworthy, fun, tried to meet people where they are really had flaws, and sought to overcome them with the few strengths that he had, and moved everything forward. Naviere Walkewicz 56:33 Those are the kind of leaders that people will run through fire for. That's amazing. I think that's a wonderful I mean that in itself, it's like a living legacy you do every day. How can I be better than I was yesterday? And that in itself, is a bit of your living and that's really cool. Well, one of the things we like to ask is, “What is something you're doing every day to be better as a leader?” And you've covered a lot, so I mean, you could probably go back to one of those things, but is there something that you could share with our listeners that you do personally every day, to be better? Mike Ott 57:05 Exercise and read every day, every day, and except Fridays. Fridays I take… that's like, I'll stretch or just kind of go for a walk. But every day I make it a moment, you know, 45 minutes to an hour, something and better for my head, good for my body, right? That's the process in the hierarchy of way I think about it. And then read. Gen. Mattis. And I supported Gen. Mattis as a lieutenant colonel before I wanted to and stuff at the Pentagon. And he I supported him as an innovation guy for JFCOM, where he was the commander. And even back then, he was always talking about reading is leading none of us as military leaders… And I can't hold the candle to the guy, but I learned an awful lot, and I love his mindset, and that none of us can live a life long enough to take In all the leadership lessons necessary to help us drive impact. So you better be reading about it all the time. And so I read probably an hour every night, every day.   Naviere Walkewicz 58:14 What are you reading right now?   Mike Ott 58:15 Oh, man, I left it on the plane! I was so bummed. Naviere Walkewicz 58:17 Oh, that's the worst. You're going to have to get another copy. Mike Ott 58:22 Before I came here, I ordered it from Barnes & Noble so to me at my house when I get home. Love history and reading a book by this wonderful British author named Anne Reid. And it's, I forget the title exactly, but it's how the allies at the end of World War I sought to influence Russia and overcome the Bolsheviks. They were called the interventionalists, and it was an alliance of 15 different countries, including the U.S., Britain, France, U.K., Japan, Australia, India, trying to thwart, you know, the Bolshevik Revolution — trying to thwart its being cemented. Fascinating, fascinating. So that's what I was reading until I left it on the plane today. Naviere Walkewicz 59:07 How do you choose what to read? Mike Ott 59:10 Listen, write, love history. Love to read Air Force stuff too. Just talk to friends, right? You know, they've learned how to read like me. So we get to talk and have fun with that. Naviere Walkewicz 59:22 That's great. Yeah, that's wonderful. Well, the last question I'd like to ask you, before I want to make sure you have an opportunity to cover anything we didn't, is what is something you would share with others that they can do to become better leaders? Maybe they start doing it now, so in the future, they're even stronger as a leader. Mike Ott 59:42 Two things I would say, and try to have these exist in the same breath in the same moment, is have the courage to make it try and make it better every day, all right, and be kind to yourself, be forgiving. Naviere Walkewicz 59:59 That's really powerful. Can you share an example? And I know I that's we could just leave it there, but being courageous and then being kind to yourself, they're almost on two opposite sides. Have you had, can you share an example where I guess you've done that right? You had to be you were courageous and making something better, and maybe it didn't go that way, so you have to be kind to yourself. Mike Ott 1:00:23 Yeah, happy to and I think any cadet will hear this story and go like, “Huh, wow, that's interesting.” And it also plays with the arc of progress isn't linear. I graduated in '85 went to flight school, got halfway through flight school, and there was a RIF, reduction in force. And our class, our flight class, I was flying jets, I was soloing. I was academically — super easy, flying average, right? You know, I like to joke that I've got the fine motor skills of a ham sandwich, right? You know, but, but I didn't finish flight school. And you think about this, here it is. I started in 1981 there were still vestiges of Vietnam. Everyone's going to be a fighter pilot. Kill, kill, kill. Blood makes the grass grow. All of that was there. And I remember when this happened, it was very frustrating for me. It was mostly the major root of frustration wasn't that I wasn't finishing flight school. It was the nature by which the determination that I wasn't finishing was made. And it was, it was a financial decision. We had too many guys and gals, and they were just finding, you know, average folks and then kicking them out. So our class graduated a lower percent than, I think, in that era, it was late '85, '86, maybe '87, but you can look at outflows, and it was interesting, they were making budget cuts. So there was a shaming part there, having gone to the Academy.   Naviere Walkewicz 1:02:02 And knowing since 9 years old. Mike Ott 1:20:04 Right, right, right, and I knew I wanted to go the Academy. I'd like to fly, let's check it out and see if it's for me. I would much rather have been not for me, had I made the decision I don't want to do this or that I was just unsafe and didn't want to do it. The way it turned out is, and this is where I learned a little bit about politics as well. In my class, again, I was very average. Like, nobody's ever going to say, like, yeah, I was going to go fly the Space Shuttle. Like, no way, right? Very, very average, but doing just fine. And a lot of guys and gals wanted to go be navigators, and that's great. I looked in the regs, and I learned this as a cadet, and it's helped me in business, too. If there's a rule, there's a waiver. Like, let me understand the regs, and I asked to go to a board. Instead of just submitting a letter to appeal, I asked to go to a board. And so I went to a board of an O-5 five, couple of threes O-4 four, and ultimately shared the essence of why I shouldn't be terminated in the program. And son of a gun, they agreed, and I still have the letter. The letter says, “Recommend Lt. Ott for reinstatement.” Nobody in my class has that letter, nobody makes the appeal. And I'm like, I'm going downstream. I'm going downstream. And that's the Chicago in me, and that's the piece about… but also move forward, but forgive yourself, and I'll get to that. And so I, I was thrilled, My goodness, and the argument I had is, like, look, you're just not keeping me current. You put me in the sim, and then you're waiting too long to put me in the jet. The regs don't allow for that. And like, you're right. So I'm assigned to go back to the jet. My pals are thrilled. I'm going to stay in the same class. I don't have to wash back. And then I get a call from the DO's office — director of operations — and it was from some civilian person so the DO overrode the board's decision. Heartbreaking. Heartbreaking.   Naviere Walkewicz 1:04:12 You were so high, you did all of your work. And then… Mike Ott 1:04:15 Yeah, and then heartbreaking and frustrating, and I guess the word is indignant: anger aroused through frustration. In that I figured it out. I knew exactly what's happening. I made the appeal and I won. And it wasn't I was expecting to be assigned to fly a fighter. It was like, “Just let me, let me express the merits of my capabilities. It's how the system is designed.” The son of a gun, I jumped in my car and I ran to base and I waited and reported in. He didn't really know who I was. That's because he didn't make a decision. It was just it was that decision, and that's how life comes at you. That's just how it is. It isn't linear. So how do you take that and then say, “Well, I'm going to be kind to myself and make something out of it.” And he went through, you know, a dissertation as to why, and I asked him if I could share my views, and it's pretty candid, and I just said, If my dad were something other than the Chicago policeman, and maybe if he was a senator or general officer, I wouldn't be sitting here. That lit him up, right? That lit him up. But I had to state my views. So I knew I was out of the program. Very, very frustrating. Could have had the mayor of Chicago call. Didn't do that, right? Like, OK, I understand where this is it. That was very frustrating and somewhat shaming. But where the forgiveness comes in and be kind to yourself, is that I ran into ground. I ran into ground and drove an outcome where I still… It's a moment of integrity. I drove an outcome like, there you go. But then what do you do? Forgive yourself, right? Because you didn't do anything wrong, OK? And you pivot. And I turned that into a moment where I started cold calling instructors at the Academy. Because, hey, now I owe the Air Force five years, Air Force is looking for, you know, things that I don't want to do. And thank goodness I had an engineering degree, and I cold called a guy at a base in Hanscom. And this is another tap on the shoulder.   Naviere Walkewicz 1:06:24 That's how you got to Hanscom. Gotcha.   Mike Ott 1:06:27 There was a friend who was Class of '83, a woman who was in my squadron, who was there. Great egg. And she's like, “Hey, I was at the O Club.” Called her. I said, “Hey, help me out. I got this engineering degree. I want to go to one of these bases. Called Lt. Col. Davis, right? I met him at the O Club. I called a guy, and he's like, “Yeah, let's do this.”   Naviere Walkewicz 1:06:44 Wow, I love that..   Mike Ott 1:06:46 It was fantastic So it's a long winded way, but progress isn't linear. And progressing through that and not being a victim, right, recognizing the conditions and the environment that I could control and those that I can't. Anything that I could control, I took advantage of and I sought to influence as best possible. Ran into ground and I feel great about it, and it turns out to be a testament of one of my best successes. Naviere Walkewicz 1:07:17 Wow. Thank you for sharing

"They're passing the torch. And the torch is being received by entities who care less about ideology and more about returns. BlackRock doesn't care about “being your own bank.” They care about portfolio diversification and risk-adjusted returns. Is that a loss? In some ways, yes. Bitcoin will probably never again have the radical energy it had in its early years. The days of 100x returns in a single year are likely over. The volatility that created life-changing wealth will moderate as ownership becomes more distributed. But it's also a victory. Because Bitcoin survived long enough to become boring. It succeeded so thoroughly that the original believers can actually cash out. It proved itself to the point where the most conservative financial institutions in the world are buying it."~ Jordi Visser Everyone's frustrated that Bitcoin's not pumping. But what if this stagnation isn't failure — it's distribution? I break down why the OG whales are finally taking profits, what that means for institutional adoption, and how Bitcoin's growing stability could mark the start of its next great era. Check out the original article Bitcoin's Silent IPO by Jordi Visser on Substack (Link: https://visserlabs.substack.com/p/bitcoins-silent-ipo-why-this-consolidation) Links & References Jordi Visser on X (Link: https://x.com/jvisserlabs) Checkmate on X (Link: https://x.com/_Checkmatey_) Explore the data Checkmatey shared on Bitcoin holder waves and distribution trends (Link: https://x.com/_Checkmatey_/status/1984723754057113776) Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma is dedicated to advancing human performance and well-being through cutting-edge light therapy devices and performance eyewear. Their mission is to enhance physical and mental health, unlocking peak human health, cognitive function, a...

Jamie's no longer a "Citi hater" because Citi just changed the game. The new $595 Citi Strata Elite now has automatic annual fee waivers for military—no complex formulas, no statement balance tricks, no emails required. Plus $500 in easy-to-use annual credits and a 100,000 point welcome offer.  Key Benefits Annual Fee Waiver $595 fee automatically waived for MLA covered borrowers Fee charged on first statement, then automatically refunded same day No documentation or emails required Works for active duty, Guard/Reserve on 30+ day orders, and military spouses in DEERS Authorized user fee also waived Check MLA database before applying $200 Annual Splurge Credit (Unique to This Card) Choose from: First Dibs, Best Buy, American Airlines, Fiture, or Live Nation/Ticketmaster Easy to switch categories Simple for any military family to use $300 Annual Hotel Credit Points Earning 12x on hotels, car rentals, attractions (through cititravel.com) 6x on flights (through cititravel.com) 6x restaurants during "Citi Nights" (Fri/Sat 6pm-6am Eastern) 3x restaurants all other times Other Benefits Four American Airlines Admiral Club passes annually Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit No foreign transaction fees $200 Black Lane credit (black car service in major cities) Extended warranty, purchase protection, trip delay protection Good transfer partners such as American Airlines (good for Emirates, Etihad, Cathay Pacific) Resources & Links Mentioned Latest Citi offers: militarymoneymanual.com Max Rewards app referral: maxrewards.app.link/jamesl02 Military Lending Act database info: militarymoneymanual.com/mla-database/ Instagram: @MilitaryMoneyManual   Spencer and Jamie offer one-on-one Military Money Mentor sessions. Get your personal military money and personal finance questions answered in a confidential coaching call. militarymoneymanual.com/mentor Over 20,000 military servicemembers and military spouses have graduated from the 100% free course available at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 In the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course, you can learn how to apply for the most premium credit cards and get special military protections, such as waived annual fees, on elite cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. https://militarymoneymanual.com/amex-platinum-military/ https://militarymoneymanual.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-military/ Learn how active duty military, military spouses, and Guard and Reserves on 30+ day active orders can get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. Want to be confident with your TSP investing? Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual.

Dr. Beckett talks with Patrick Ryan, who shares his experience of mistakenly bidding on his own item and they discuss the ethics, legality, and nuances of shill bidding. They explore the differences between defensive and offensive bidding, the importance of auction rules, and what constitutes fair practice in the auction world. They also address the broader implications on auction behavior, reserve prices, and the responsibilities of auction houses.   01:00 Understanding Shill Bidding 01:12 Personal Auction Stories and Ethical Dilemmas 04:02 The Role of Reserves in Auctions 12:42 Bidding Strategies and Market Insights 16:14 Historical Context and Price Guide Methodology    

Reserves $6.5M for potential program The Putnam County Legislature on Wednesday (Oct. 29) approved a $229 million budget for 2026 that sets aside millions of dollars for potential property tax relief, while including money for food programs and several Philipstown nonprofits. The Legislature's revision of County Executive Kevin Byrne's $222 million proposal includes a substantial addition: carving out $6.5 million from the county's swollen reserves for a Homeowner Tax Relief Program contingency account. Byrne may take exception to adding $7 million to his proposed budget. Under the county charter, he can veto changes made by the Legislature, but the lawmakers can override those vetoes. Legislator Paul Jonke, who proposed the tax-relief idea, is one of several legislators who said this would be the first time a county has implemented such a program. Its purpose, he said, is to give tax relief to homeowners who, despite cuts by Byrne in the last two budgets, have seen "virtually no impact" on their bills. "It's going to benefit senior citizens, it's going to benefit veterans," he said. "It's going to benefit the people who need that little bit of help when they get their oil bill or their electric bills." Funding would come from the county's reserves, or savings. An audit for 2023 found that Putnam ended the year with $144.3 million in reserves, including $78.3 million in "unassigned" funds that had not been designated for specific areas of spending. With sales taxes exceeding projections and Putnam "underspending" by $22 million, the total reserves were $31.8 million higher than in 2022, and the unassigned reserves $7 million higher, according to the audit. "We're sitting on a lot of money, folks," said Legislator Dan Birmingham, who represents Mahopac and parts of Southeast. "If the public had a true vision of, they'd rightly be outraged." Legislator Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and Putnam Valley, sought to amend the proposal to extend it to all residents, not just property owners, predicting that "it's going to be a very hard sell, and it probably won't be legal just to give this tax relief in the form of cash back to owner-occupied homes." She suggested that the county could give money back through other methods, such as grants for energy-efficiency projects, fee waivers and assistance for childcare. "If we truly want to provide tax relief, we should do it legally and inclusively," said Montgomery. But Montgomery and other legislators set aside their concerns about legality to support the proposal, which still must be developed. The Legislature also approved a request by Birmingham to set aside $150,000 for food programs, following an earlier approval of $9,700 for Second Chance Foods, based in Brewster. "They're not the only organization in the county that does help those folks who are experiencing food insecurity," said Birmingham. "We have food pantries in all parts of our county." The Legislature approved $10,000 grants requested by Montgomery for Boscobel, the Garrison Art Center and Hudson Valley Shakespeare. It also increased County Historian Jennifer Cassidy's position to full-time and her annual salary to $80,000. What remains unchanged from Byrne's original $222 million proposal is a $45.2 million property-tax levy and a projected $83.5 million in sales-tax revenues. The $1 million reduction in the levy represents the largest cut in the county's history, he said. The budget also includes $2.3 million for Putnam's inaugural sales-tax-sharing agreement with Nelsonville, Cold Spring, Philipstown and five other towns and the Village of Brewster. Each municipality will receive a share based on population to be used on infrastructure. Philipstown expects to receive $169,000 and Cold Spring and Nelsonville, $50,000 each, the minimum guarantee. Byrne's budget added new positions, including a counsel for the majority-Republican Legislature and a part-time counsel for Montgomery, its lone Democrat. It also...

Judges rule that federal food aid must continue, although benefits may still be delayed. The AP's Jennifer King has more.

John Maytham speaks to Wildlife investigative journalist and academic Adam Cruise about the poor state of South Africa’s provincial nature reserves. Presenter John Maytham is an actor and author-turned-talk radio veteran and seasoned journalist. His show serves a round-up of local and international news coupled with the latest in business, sport, traffic and weather. The host’s eclectic interests mean the program often surprises the audience with intriguing book reviews and inspiring interviews profiling artists. A daily highlight is Rapid Fire, just after 5:30pm. CapeTalk fans call in, to stump the presenter with their general knowledge questions. Another firm favourite is the humorous Thursday crossing with award-winning journalist Rebecca Davis, called “Plan B”. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Afternoon Drive with John Maytham Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 15:00 and 18:00 (SA Time) to Afternoon Drive with John Maytham broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/BSFy4Cn or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/n8nWt4x Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, I talk about the energetics of the hustle. Looking at the bones of the hustle, and unspoken agreement between dancer and customer in terms of what both parties and giving and receiving.The energetics at play, inspiring customers to spend and maintaining our energy to keep the loop of giving and receiving in balance!

"The necessity for guys to be around other good guys and girls to be around other good girls... we had that really well structured all throughout history. We fucked it all up over the last of the last hundred years when we mixed everything together. And the price we're paying for it is that guys are more like women now and women are more like guys. And you start to lose the tension.Because what you need for any sort of force or charge to exist is you need polarity. You need a positive pole and negative pole. You need a north and a south. You need a day and a night. You need a man and a woman. You need that. And the more you kill polarity and you move things towards sameness and similarity, the more you lose the tension and the more you lose the charge."~ Aleks Svetski Aleks Svetski returns to the show - this time as a new father - and we dive deep into how life, virtue, and purpose change once you're raising the next generation. From home birth and the raw reality of becoming a dad, to the philosophy of Bushido of Bitcoin, we explore growth through discomfort, the tension between opposing virtues, and why true wisdom lives in that tension. We talk about choosing responsibility over comfort, why the world needs polarity - men as men, women as women - and how modern culture's obsession with balance and safety is erasing meaning. Svetski shares his evolving view on individualism, the rise of the “sovereign tribe,” and why character must come before capital. We end by diving into his latest project, building tools for the experience economy - products that drive us off the screen and back into the real world. It's a whirlwind of fatherhood, philosophy, Bitcoin, and growing the courage to say no so you can build what really matters.   Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma is dedicated to advancing human performance and well-being through cutting-edge light therapy devices and performance eyewear. Their mission is to enhance physical and mental health, unlocking peak human health, cognitive function, and physical performance. Get 10% off your order with t...

“Live by the mNAV, Die by the mNAV”. What happens when financial alchemy meets the hardest money in history? In this episode, we explore how Bitcoin treasury companies may be repeating the speculative sins of the 1920s—where reflexivity, leverage, and overconfidence turned “innovation” into collapse. The question is: will Bitcoin break the curse, or amplify it? Check out the original article Read_911 - Bitcoin TreasuryCos: Lessons From The 1929 Crash (Speculative Attack! Part III) by Be Water (Link: https://bewaterltd.com/p/bitcoin-treasurycos-lessons-from) Links & References Read_909 - Bitcoin Treasury Companies (Speculative Attack! Part I) (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/eShOXODGdCH3BD3M9Mzn) Read_910 - Bitcoin TreasuryCos & The Roaring 20s: Speculative Attack! Part II (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/z21X5ypXXezxWQ1Y827s) The Flight into Fake Values by Be Water (Link: https://bewaterltd.com/p/the-flight-into-fake-values) The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith (Link: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Crash-1929-Kenneth-Galbraith/dp/0547248164) Shelling Out: The Origins of Money by Nick Szabo (Link: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/library/shelling-out/) Read_882 - The Great Taking [P1] on Spotify (Link:https://open.spotify.com/episode/0CBszl5R5aWETQHN5wSgoo) Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma is dedicated to advancing human performance and well-being through cutting-edge light therapy devices and performance eyewear. Their mission is to enhance physical and mental health, unlocking...

George Goncalves, Head of Macro Strategy for the Americas, shares our latest macro perspectives in light of the government shutdown and ongoing updates to US trade policy. However, the main focus was on the teams expectations for the upcoming FOMC meeting. In addition to expecting a 25bp cut, with reserves continuing to shrink and Chair Powell signaling that the Fed may be approaching the end of its quantitative tightening (QT) program, George believes this meeting could serve as a platform to begin mapping out a path to conclude QT by year-end.

Grab your copy of my book Charity Finance from A - ZCheck out ExpensePlus and sign up for a month's free trial and 10% off your first year's subscription, using my referral link http://expenseplus.co.uk/r/AI-BANCYou've got money in the bank — but you can't touch most of it. Sound familiar? In this episode, Aishat breaks down the real challenge behind restricted funds and the feeling of being cash-rich but control-poor.She explains restricted, unrestricted, and designated funds in plain English and shares how small charities can create breathing space within what they already have — through clearer budgeting, transparent reporting, and stronger financial understanding.This isn't about learning to fundraise. It's about using finance as a tool for freedom, clarity, and calm.KEY TAKEAWAYYou're not broke — you're boxed in. Restricted funds limit flexibility, but awareness creates control.Budget truthfully. Show the real cost of delivery, not just what funders cover.Transparency builds trust. Clear management reports protect credibility with both trustees and funders.Reserves aren't luxury — they're continuity. Even a small surplus helps you breathe when income is delayed.BEST MOMENTS “You're not broke — you just can't move. That's the hidden truth of restricted income.” “Restricted income delivers your projects. Unrestricted income keeps your organisation alive to deliver them.”“Restricted income alone can make you appear busy — but not necessarily stable.”“Gratitude matters — but not at the expense of sustainability.”ABOUT YOUR HOSTAishat operates her own bookkeeping and accounting services practice –BAnC Services – which focuses primarily on serving non-profits. Before founding her practice, she dedicated over two decades to the non-profit sector.With her podcast, Aishat shares practical insights and expertise to streamline financial management for non-profits, while also shining a light on the often unseen and unheard efforts that uphold the delivery of a non-profit's mission.She is the author of Money Solutions for Single Mums and Charity Finance from A to Z“Budgets are narratives too. They tell a story.” – a practical guide designed to demystify finance for those working in the charity sector.Beyond her professional endeavours with non-profits, Aishat is deeply committed to supporting single mothers in navigating financial challenges and champions financial literacy among young Black adults. She thrives in conversations about money, empowerment, and purposeful work.Work with Aishat: www.bancservices.co.ukCONNECTInstagramTikTok

We dive deep into the shill bidding storm and the auction-house fine print driving it. What many call “house bids” to defend reserves can feel indistinguishable from shilling to buyers. We unpack how reserves, house bidding, and employee-bidding policies really work, why they matter for comp integrity, and how one-off headline results (like the Baltimore News Babe Ruth) can distort value in a thin market. Then we zoom out to solutions: how to set a ceiling and stick to it, when to favor BIN/Best Offer over auctions, and how to sanity-check comps using trade frequency, condition/eye appeal premiums, and platform context. We also tackle the eBay Authentication Program—security benefits vs. painful delays—and whether it should be optional. Plus: a quick vintage lesson on why a sharp 1950 Bowman Ted Williams in a lower grade can outshine numerically higher slabs, and thoughts on marketplace changes like Probstein → SNYPE and what that might mean for liquidity and fees. Highlights Shill bidding vs. house bids: ethics, optics, and the fine print Reserves explained and how they influence bidder behavior Protecting yourself: ceilings, BIN/BO strategy, comp validation eBay Authentication: safeguard vs. slowdown—and the case for making it optional Vintage insight: paying up for eye appeal (and when it's worth it) Marketplace shifts (SNYPE, eBay) and potential impact on comps and trust Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  "In 1929, one of its largest holdings was the Shenandoah Corporation. Another closed-end fund, organized by Goldman Sachs... that became a large investor in its stock. All these funds traded at Premia. At the top of the pyramid, the Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation traded at a premium to a premium to a premium to net asset value." In the Roaring Twenties, Goldman Sachs built a pyramid of trusts on top of trusts—trading at “a premium to a premium to a premium.” Today, we see Bitcoin treasuries and corporate leverage playing the same game on a harder monetary base. The question isn't whether it will collapse—it's whether Bitcoin changes the rules before history repeats. Check out the original article Bitcoin TreasuryCos & The Roaring 20s: Speculative Attack! Part II by Be Water (Link: https://bewaterltd.com/p/bitcoin-treasurycos-and-the-roaring) Links & References Speculative Attack Part 1 (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/eShOXODGdCH3BD3M9Mzn) The Flight into Fake Values by Be Water (Link: https://bewaterltd.com/p/the-flight-into-fake-values) Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing by Jacob Goldstein (Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50358103-money) Reboot - Shelling Out: The Origins of Money [Nick Szabo] on Fountain (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/x8tdmijTWRqQwNkwLyL4) Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma is dedicated to advancing human performance and well-being through cutting-edge light therapy devices and performance eyewear. Their mission is to enhance physical and mental health, unlocking peak human health, cognitive function, and physical performance. Get 10% off your order with the code BITCOINAUDIBLE. (Link: https://getchroma.co/?ref...

Proof of reserves daily.

Sports Cards Live episode 287, Part 1. Jeremy sits down with Joe Poirot to kick off the night, then Leighton Sheldon jumps in for a deep dive on the headline sale of the 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth that just hammered around 4M after a prior 7.2M comp. We unpack why rare does not always equal iconic, how schedule issues compare to Goudey Ruths, and what “value” means when a card trades so infrequently. From there we zoom out to the auction landscape: shill bidding realities, house bidding on behalf of consignors, and reserves—how they work, where they are disclosed, and how buyers can protect themselves. Jeremy shares a Classic Auctions mail day, completing a 1952 Parkhurst “flight” with Rocket Richard alongside Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk, and Tim Horton, plus a fun pickup of game-used Mats Sundin gloves. We also touch on Probstein moving off eBay to SNYPE, Fanatics vault strategies, and using Card Ladder to sanity-check comps. What you'll learn Why the Baltimore News Ruth can lag iconic appeal despite extreme rarity How auction house reserves and house bids can affect bidding behavior Practical tactics to limit shill exposure set a ceiling price and stick to it How “flight collecting” works as a middle path between set and type collecting Vintage hockey targets in 1951–52 Parkhurst and why they resonate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Nicole sits down with financial advisor Connie Williams of Edward Jones to explore what financial wellness really looks like for busy firm owners.  They discuss common behavioral money traps, how to build lasting financial security, and practical ways to prioritize your own financial health without neglecting your clients.  Whether you're just getting started or looking to optimize your retirement planning, this episode is packed with relatable insights and strategies. Enjoyed this episode? Join a network of like-minded women at http://cpamoms.com/start and get the support you need to build the practice you want.

In this episode of the Investor Fuel Podcast, host Michelle Kesil interviews Jeffrey Taylor, a financial services expert with 37 years of experience. Jeffrey discusses his approach to educating real estate investors on managing property equity, increasing cash flow, and eliminating debt. He emphasizes the importance of understanding amortization tables and offers strategies for doubling cash reserves and creating wealth without market losses. The conversation also covers the significance of building relationships with realtors and the educational resources available for clients.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true ‘white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a “mini-mastermind” with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming “Retreat”, either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas “Big H Ranch”? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

"What distinguishes this speculative attack from its Weimar predecessor is that now - thanks to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Treasuries, Money Printer Go Brrr memes, and social media - it is nearly impossible for public opinion to misconstrue the economic consequences of the inflation. The speculative attack has evolved from a relatively obscure trading strategy during the Weimar Republic into a coordinated, full-fledged social media-mediated and Wall Street-assisted assault on the monopoly of state-issued money itself."~ Be Water We've entered a world where perception overtakes reality, and debt is the new weapon in a monetary war. I break down the first part of The Speculative Attack series, connecting it to everything from Weimar inflation to the hollowed-out middle class—and ask the question: are Bitcoin treasuries the future of sound money, or the next crack-up boom? Check out the original article Bitcoin Treasury Companies: Speculative Attack! Part I by Be Water (Link: https://bewaterltd.com/p/bitcoin-treasury-companies) Links & References The Flight into Fake Values by Be Water (Link: https://bewaterltd.com/p/the-flight-into-fake-values) Speculative Attack by Pierre Rochard (2014) (Link: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/speculative-attack/) Speculative Attack Season 2 by Pierre Rochard and Allan Farrington (2023) (Link: https://www.axiombtc.capital/attack) Broken Money Revisited: Advancing Lyn Alden's Gold & Bitcoin Thesis (Memetic Monetary Theory) (Link: https://bewaterltd.com/p/broken-money)  Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet by Julian Assange (Link: https://tinyurl.com/y33tr22c) Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org)

Geopolitics and Power Shifts: Rare Earths, AUKUS, and CCP Purges Gregory Copley with John Batchelor Copley discusses Australian PM Albanese's US visit, which secured a rare earths agreement leveraging Australia's vast reserves and advanced mining technology. This deal disrupts China's historic control over critical minerals leverage. Copley also analyzes the political purging of general officers during the CCP's Fourth Plenum. This suggests a major power shift, potentially leading to the removal of Xi Jinping, as the military appears to be controlling the party.

EGeopolitics and Power Shifts: Rare Earths, AUKUS, and CCP Purges Gregory Copley with John Batchelor Copley discusses Australian PM Albanese's US visit, which secured a rare earths agreement leveraging Australia's vast reserves and advanced mining technology. This deal disrupts China's historic control over critical minerals leverage. Copley also analyzes the political purging of general officers during the CCP's Fourth Plenum. This suggests a major power shift, potentially leading to the removal of Xi Jinping, as the military appears to be controlling the party. QUEENSLAND

Geopolitics and Power Shifts: Rare Earths, AUKUS, and CCP Purges Gregory Copley with John Batchelor Copley discusses Australian PM Albanese's US visit, which secured a rare earths agreement leveraging Australia's vast reserves and advanced mining technology. This deal disrupts China's historic control over critical minerals leverage. Copley also analyzes the political purging of general officers during the CCP's Fourth Plenum. This suggests a major power shift, potentially leading to the removal of Xi Jinping, as the military appears to be controlling the party. 1905

Geopolitics and Power Shifts: Rare Earths, AUKUS, and CCP Purges Gregory Copley with John Batchelor Copley discusses Australian PM Albanese's US visit, which secured a rare earths agreement leveraging Australia's vast reserves and advanced mining technology. This deal disrupts China's historic control over critical minerals leverage. Copley also analyzes the political purging of general officers during the CCP's Fourth Plenum. This suggests a major power shift, potentially leading to the removal of Xi Jinping, as the military appears to be controlling the party. 1930 AUSTRALIA

"If you have this disconnect between Core devs that value one thing and the users that value something else, something's got to give at some point, right? Either you get developers that are more in line with the users or a lot of the other users kind of end up leaving and so on.So this is not a trivial concern and it's a big attacksurface and we've seen it in these communities where a lot of this political stuff enters and then next thing you know it gets completely sort of subsumed by that movement, by institutional capture, if you will.And that's not just true in open source software, it's true in every nonprofit organization and so on.This is a big problem."~ Jimmy Song Jimmy Song joins me for a deep dive into one of the most heated topics in Bitcoin today - the debate around Bitcoin Core, the OP_RETURN controversy, and the growing cultural divide within Bitcoin development. We explore whether Bitcoin's technical decisions have become political moves, and what “verify, don't trust” really means when trust itself starts eroding. We talk about Bitcoin's identity crisis between innovation and ossification - should Bitcoin keep evolving with new toys, or hold the line and protect what already works? We cover everything from Taproot's legacy to mining decentralization, censorship, left–right polarization in the dev community, and the spirit of cypherpunk independence. Most importantly, Jimmy challenges us to think for ourselves - to stop being clones of whoever we agree with, and to test every assumption against reality. Because Bitcoin's strength has never been in consensus for its own sake, but in the willingness to ask hard questions. Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma is dedicated to advancing human performance and well-being through cutting-edge light therapy devices and performance eyewear. Their mission is to enhance physical and mental health, unlocking peak human health, cognitive function, and physical performance. Get 10% off your order with the code BITCOINAUDIBLE...

In this letter to the editor, Clark County resident Larry Roe discusses Vancouver Public Schools' financial shortfall, arguing it results from overspending beyond state allocations and a lack of reserves. He calls for fiscal responsibility, better budgeting, and levy requests that prioritize local needs. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/letter-vps-has-no-operational-reserves-and-no-credible-plans-to-raise-them/ #Opinion #LetterToTheEditor #Vancouver #VPS #EducationFunding #PublicSchools #FiscalResponsibility #SchoolBoard #WashingtonState #EducationPolicy #ClarkCounty

Spencer recently joined Jesse Cramer on his podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. We wanted to share this episode with our listeners too! Links: Jesse's blog: https://bestinterest.blog/ (he has a great newsletter to sign up for!) Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors podcast: https://bestinterest.blog/personal-finance-for-long-term-investors/ Spencer and Jamie offer one-on-one Military Money Mentor sessions. Get your personal military money and personal finance questions answered in a confidential coaching call. militarymoneymanual.com/mentor Over 20,000 military servicemembers and military spouses have graduated from the 100% free course available at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 In the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course, you can learn how to apply for the most premium credit cards and get special military protections, including waived annual fees, on elite cards like the American Express Platinum Card® and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. https://militarymoneymanual.com/amex-platinum-military/ https://militarymoneymanual.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-military/ Learn how active duty military, military spouses, and Guard and Reserves on 30+ day active orders can get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. Want to be confident with your TSP investing? Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual.

"Payments are the camcorders of our age, the next technology whose time has passed. The new age that is just beginning will feel qualitatively different, like the moment Dorothy steps out of her black-and-white world into the vibrant colors of Oz. When value flows as freely as information, the economy changes, and society changes with it."~ Roy Sheinfeld What happens when money moves as freely as a text message? This episode dives into Roy Sheinfeld's vision of Bitcoin not just as an asset - but as the network that commoditizes value transfer itself. I explore how this shift could dissolve borders, upend the legacy payments stack, and unlock a new creator economy built directly on Lightning. Check out the original article The Utility of Bitcoin: Moving Value Like Information by Roy Sheinfeld (Link: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/the-utility-of-bitcoin-moving-value-like-information) Links Referenced: Breez (Link: Breez.tech) Breez SDK (Link: https://breez.technology/sdk/) Alby + NWC [Start9 integration] (Link: https://tinyurl.com/yzhwf6t6) PearDrive Core (Link: https://github.com/peardrive/PearDriveCore) PearDrive CLI (Link: https://github.com/peardrive/PearDriveCLI) Zero to One by Peter Thiel [PDF] (Link: https://morfene.com/021.pdf) Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get it by Scott Kupor (Link: https://a16z.com/books/secrets-of-sand-hill-road/) Arc / Spark / Fedi / Botanix / Cashu Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma...

“We're gonna start seeing strategic compute reserves — like digital oil. Treasuries hoarding compute credits across networks like Aethir Cloud, ready to convert when needed," says Aethir's CEO Dan Wang.

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Erika interviews Lori Wyatt, a dynamic figure in the real estate industry. Lori shares her unique journey into real estate, starting from a college student with a small amount of savings to becoming a successful broker and investor. She discusses the challenges and lessons learned in flipping houses, the importance of having a strong team, and her vision for innovative construction methods to address affordable housing needs. The conversation highlights the significance of networking, education, and collaboration in the real estate business.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true ‘white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a “mini-mastermind” with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming “Retreat”, either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas “Big H Ranch”? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

From the Army Reserves to crypto swaps, @georgelennox_ shares how he found purpose building at @SideShiftAI. Great chat with @_dsencil & @FrederickMunawa at @WebX_Asia on decentralization, user experience, and real-world utility. Watch the full interview here.Timestamps:00:00 The Evolution of Trust in Crypto04:33 Journey into the Crypto Space05:57 Understanding Sideshift's Role08:46 Navigating Regulatory Challenges10:59 Developer Insights and Community Engagement15:09 Leveraging Technical Skills in Crypto17:07 Perceptions of Crypto in the Media19:59 The Evolution of Crypto Engagement21:18 Real-World Utility in Crypto23:36 Token Listing and Market Trends26:21 Transaction Volume Insights29:10 Competitive Landscape in Crypto Exchanges31:41 The Future of Centralized vs. Decentralized Exchanges33:16 User Demographics and Engagement Strategies36:37 Navigating Regulatory Challenges#crypto #tokensSubscribe to our channel and hit the bell "

Russian assets abroad were frozen almost as soon as the country launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The idea of seizing those assets and transferring them to Ukraine has been discussed in Western capitals for more than three years, but no significant action has been taken because the assets are protected by sovereign immunity and the West is officially not at war with Russia. Now, with a new administration in the United States and the war of attrition in Ukraine dragging on, European leaders find themselves between a rock—the need to show unwavering support for Ukraine—and a hard place: growing public discontent at having to fund this war from European pockets, when there are billions of euros in Russian money sitting in Western bank accounts.What would the procedure be for embarking on such a complex legal matter? What would setting such a precedent mean for the EU, the euro, and the dollar, and for the countries looking to deposit their reserves in the EU? And does Europe have a plan B if internal divisions can't be overcome?

49ers Rush Road Trips are now available for sale on https://www.tickpick.com/organizer/o/49ers-rush or download the Tick Pick app and search "49ers Rush" or go to 49ersRushRoadTrip.com use code "NINERS" for $10 off!There are several ways to support the podcast! Join us at The49ersRush.com for all of our All22 film breakdowns and bonus content. This is the best way to support the show.We still have our Patreon as well https://www.patreon.com/49ersRushPodcastGo to MyBookie.ag and use code "49ers" for deposit bonus!!!!Check out PrizePicks: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/49ERSCheck out Cigars International and use my code 49ERS for a great deal: https://www.cigarsinternational.comCheck out Kindred: https://livekindred.com/49ERSI am most active on Twitter please follow @JL_Chapman, Instagram: 49ers Rush Podcast, Email: 49ersRushPodcast@gmail.comIf you need help with website design/builds go to https://www.powerbrandsystems.com/crm949620?am_id=john874Get all 49ers gear at homage.sjv.io/MmYXO2#49ers #49ersrushOur Sponsors:* Check out Cigars International and use my code 49ERS for a great deal: https://www.cigarsinternational.com* Check out Kindred: https://kindred.com/49ERS* Check out PrizePicks: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/49ERSSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/49ers-rush-podcast-with-john-chapman/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

"One of the founding tenets of anarcho-capitalism [is] that in a world without a government, you would have insurance contracts as the means for negotiating, disputing things. This actually goes into the original firedepartments were actually insurance companies. You'd purchase fire insurance from a particular purveyor of fire insurance and you would actually stamp on the cornerstone of your building, the sigil of whatever insurance company was protecting your property.If the fire burned the building, the insurance company's on the hook. It's the most skin in the game, risk aligned way to get different parties to align on an outcome as an insurance contract. It's so much cheaper just to have an on-call fire bucket brigade team than to rebuild a building. So in the world without a government, you have insurance contracts."~ Rob Hamilton   In this conversation with Rob Hamilton of AnchorWatch, we dive deep into the evolving frontier of Bitcoin custody, multisig innovation, and the emergence of Bitcoin‑insured financial infrastructure. We explore how tools like Miniscript and MuSig are reshaping what's possible with shared ownership, time locks, and key hierarchies, and why AnchorWatch's partnership with Lloyd's of London represents far more than just insured Bitcoin—it's a preview of an entirely new risk and capital market built on Bitcoin. We talk about turning legal contracts into programmable money, the bridge between Bitcoin and traditional insurance, and the future path from Lloyd's underwriting to fully Bitcoin‑denominated coverage. Rob breaks down how multisig could transform the meaning of trust, and we even venture into the implications for Lightning, AI authentication, and the long‑arc future of custody itself. How do we insure Bitcoin without fiat? Can multisig redefine the institutional model? And what might a Bitcoin‑native insurance industry look like when the world finally catches up? Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma is dedicated to advancing human performance and wel...

The Centre is planning to merge smaller public sector banks with larger banks such as Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, and SBI by FY27. Emirates NBD's India unit is likely to acquire a 51% stake in RBL Bank. Only about 20% of stocks are cheap today, and even that comes with legitimate concerns, as 50-60% of stocks trade in an overvalued zone, said Maran Govindasamy.

In this episode, Tim and Mikey recap the Atlanta Hawks' 119-118 overtime preseason win against the Miami Heat. Caleb Houstan scored 21 points with a game-winning 3-pointer. Asa Newell had 19 points, and Jacob Toppin led Atlanta with 26. Lamont Butler, who the Hawks signed just hours before the game, collected 18 points and three steals. FOLLOW us on “X”: @EthosHawks @Tim_ATL @MRKHoops The FantasyPass isn't just for drafts anymore! Come enjoy DAN'S FANTASY ADDS/DROPS IN REAL TIME in our premium Discord… starting at just $6/month! Click to learn more! SUBSCRIBE, Rate and Review iTunes: https://tinyurl.com/ymf6vssp Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yll6somy Join our Fantasy Sports Discord Server by clicking this sentence – https://discord.gg/jSwGWSHqaV Looking for the Bru and Besbris Secret Shows? The only way to get the URLs when they happen is to jump on the email list by heading here: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/g5c9a0 Manscaped is BACK, baby! Just like the NBA! Use coupon code HOOPBALL20 to get 20% off and free shipping on your purchase at Manscaped.com! Want more codes? We got 'em! ExpressVPN is offering 3 BONUS months on every 12-month membership purchase by using this special link: https://www.expressvpn.com/hoopball Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Riding Shotgun With Charlie #239 Chris Henderson MTR Defense 3 Doors Down, Guitarist   It's great to have friends who have friends! While I was in Memphis doing a show and staying with Zeke Stout, he asked if I wanted to have the guitarist from 3 Doors Down on the show.Besides being a rock star, he also started and runs MTR Defense, making AR style rifles. How am I going to say no? It was a great day for me. I filmed 3 shows in two states in one day. I went to where Elvis was born and where Johnny Cash was buried.    It started by driving out of his neighborhood, where Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, and Johnny Cash all lived. There was lots to cover. We talk about music and firearms, two of my favorite topics!   Henderson traveled around a bit as a kid, but they settled in southern Mississippi. His brother also played and attended my alma mater, Berklee College of Music. Chris wanted to go there, too, but his brother talked him out of it. So he stayed in Escatawpa, Mississippi, and played in all kinds of bands. He also served several years in the Army, Navy and as a Seabee, in the Reserves. This is when he started learning and getting interested in firearms. He was also able to keep practicing and playing guitar.    He's been in 3 Doors Down since 1996, but in 2000, the band really took off with "Kryptonite". Things really changed from playing in clubs with 250-300 people a night to doing much bigger venues. The band really hit it huge for many years, even doing up to 50 gigs a year now.    For his early influences, of course there was Lynyrd Skynyrd. But he also spent a lot of time listening to gospel  and country music. According to him, when you're born in Mississippi, you leave the hospital with a fishing license, a Dale Jr die cast, and a Skynyrd album. As an 18 year old, fresh out of high school, having lots going on, he still made time to practice guitar every day. Without a formal education, he was still able to get a great set of ears and transcribe music. Naturally, this led to writing songs, too.    The conversation really was back and forth. We talked about guns, then music, then back to guns. Some of what he shares is about the process of being a band and who gets credit for writing which part to a song. There's a road story about doing a show in Miami and the transmission of the van just melting and they didn't make the gig. This is when 3DD was just getting recognized.    Around 2016, Chris decided to get into making firearms and selling merch. He joked that it was a hat company that sells rifles. Originally called Middle Tennessee Rifle, he knew there would be pushback from social media, so he decided to call it MTR Defense. They don't make “black rifles”, but they have them cerakoted so they're much more colorful. Hillbilly 223 Urban Finishes does the cerakoting for him. MTR also makes a lot of promotional items, like shirts and hats. They made battle mugs and hats for The GLOCK Store.    Besides making AR styles rifles, he said he makes a 50 cal on the AR platform. They do a lot of custom work on many types of firearms. There's a really good selection at the website, linked below. MTR has their FFL and SOT so they can make and sell lots of fun items. He's running a one man shop with a little bit of help. Most of his days, he's up at 4 am heading to the MTR office.   When I went to meet Chris at his place, he needed to get cleaned up. His son hung out with me. He asked me if I wanted to see his rifle. Of course I said yes. I got to see his toy AR with a scope on it. We sat on the front steps and he pretended to shoot things in the yard. It was fun. In his down time, Chris takes care of his son and four dogs. When his fiance comes to visit, she's got her four dogs, too.  Favorite quotes: “I don't remember not being in this band.” “Chase your dreams. Do it for beer. And see what happens.” “Music comes easy to me. Guns come easy to me. Business does not.” “You forget where you came from. No, I didn't. That's why I'm not there anymore.” “They're there because they're traumatized youth. And they're using the music to heal.”   MTR Defense https://mtrdefense.com/   MTR Store https://mtrdefensestore.com/   MTR FB https://www.facebook.com/mtrdefense/   MTR X https://x.com/MTRDefense   MTR Linktree https://linktr.ee/mtrdefense   Hillbilly 223 Urban Finishes https://hillbilly223.com/ Second Amendment Foundation https://secure.anedot.com/saf/donate?sc=RidingShotgun    Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms https://www.ccrkba.org/   Please support the Riding Shotgun With Charlie sponsors and supporters.    Self Defense Radio Network http://sdrn.us/   US Law Shield Legal Defense for Self Defense. Use "RSWC" as the discount code and get 2 months for free! https://www.uslawshield.com/   Patriot Mobile Use this link and get one month for free! https://patriotmobile.com/partners/rswc   Or listen on: iTunes/Apple podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/riding-shotgun-with-charlie/id1275691565

Travel Planning with Points & Miles Join Spencer Reese and Jamie as they dive deep into the tactical strategies for planning and booking travel using credit card points and miles. This comprehensive guide walks through the entire process from initial flight searches to hotel bookings, with a focus on maximizing value while avoiding common pitfalls. Topics Covered Flight Booking Strategies: How to prioritize travel goals (destination, dates, airline, class of service) Finding direct flight routes and connections Searching for award availability across multiple loyalty programs Setting up price and availability alerts The importance of booking directly with airlines Avoiding third-party booking sites and potential complications Understanding partner airlines and fifth freedom routes Hotel Booking: Searching for hotel availability with points Using free night certificates effectively Maximizing Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) benefits Fifth night free promotions When to choose hotels vs. short-term rentals Advanced Tips: Transfer partner bonuses and timing Combining points between household members Seat selection strategies for different aircraft types Using expert booking services (when they're worth it) Setting realistic expectations for award availability Resources & Links Mentioned Free Flight Search Tools: Google Flights Flight Connections - Route mapping Points Path (Chrome extension) - Points comparison on Google Flights Points Search Platforms: PointsYeah.com - Search 22+ loyalty programs (paid version recommended) Point.me / Amex.Point.me - Transfer partner search Seats.aero - Award availability search (paid) ExpertFlyer.com - Seat maps and availability (paid) Hotel Tools: MaxFHR.com - Fine Hotels & Resorts property search HigherAspire.com - Hilton Aspire credit usage Booking.com - General hotel search Hilton.com, Marriott.com, Hyatt.com - Direct hotel searches Other Resources: SeatGuru - Aircraft seat maps and reviews Airbnb & VRBO - Alternative accommodations Credit Cards Discussed: Chase Sapphire Reserve American Express Platinum Card Delta SkyMiles Reserve (Amex) Bilt Credit Card Hilton Honors Aspire (Amex) Key Takeaways Don't let points optimization ruin the vacation - Balance maximizing value with maintaining trip enjoyment and minimizing planning stress Book directly when possible - Avoid third-party sites to ensure better customer service and easier modifications Be flexible - More flexibility with dates, airports, and airlines leads to better redemptions Start searching 6-9 months out - Award availability is typically best well in advance Check for transfer bonuses - Can increase point value by 20-30% or more Set up alerts - For both cash prices and award availability to catch deals Budget for tools if needed - Some paid subscriptions may be worth it for major trips Spencer and Jamie offer one-on-one Military Money Mentor sessions. Get your personal military money and personal finance questions answered in a confidential coaching call. militarymoneymanual.com/mentor Over 20,000 military servicemembers and military spouses have graduated from the 100% free course available at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 In the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course, you can learn how to apply for the most premium credit cards and get special military protections, including waived annual fees, on elite cards like the American Express Platinum Card® and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. https://militarymoneymanual.com/amex-platinum-military/ https://militarymoneymanual.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-military/ Learn how active duty military, military spouses, and Guard and Reserves on 30+ day active orders can get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. Want to be confident with your TSP investing? Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual.

In this episode, I read and explore “Why Bitcoin is Freedom Money” by the Human Rights Foundation, written by Alex Gladstein - a powerful look at how Bitcoin is quietly reshaping the fight for human rights and financial freedom across the globe. From Nigerian activists to Afghan educators and Cuban citizens defying economic isolation, this read highlights the practical, real-world stories of people using Bitcoin as a lifeline when traditional systems fail them. I unpack why this movement isn't about speculation or ideology but about survival - and what it means for the billions living under authoritarian control. Can a peaceful, borderless form of money truly undermine tyranny? Can Bitcoin become the global standard for liberty in the digital age? Sit back and join me for a profound reflection on what might be the greatest quiet revolution in history - the birth of freedom money. Check out the original article Why Bitcoin is Freedom Money: HRF in the Journal of Democracy by HRF (Link: https://hrf.org/latest/financial-freedom-report-91/) Check out our awesome sponsors! Ledn: Need fiat but don't want to sell your Bitcoin? Ledn offers secure, Bitcoin-backed loans with no credit checks, flexible repayment, and fast turnaround—often within 24 hours. With $10B+ in loans across 100+ countries and transparent Proof of Reserves, Ledn is a trusted option for unlocking liquidity without giving up your Bitcoin. (Link: https://learn.ledn.io/audible) HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org) Chroma: Chroma is dedicated to advancing human performance and well-being through cutting-edge light therapy devices and performance eyewear. Their mission is to enhance physical and mental health, unlocking peak human health, cognitive function, and physical performance. Get 10% off your order with the code BITCOINAUDIBLE. (Link: https://getchroma.co/?ref=BitcoinAudible) Host Links ⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney) ⁠Guy on X ⁠(Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann) Guy on Instagram (Link: https://www.instagram.com/theguyswann) Guy on TikTok (Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@theguyswann) Guy on YouTube (Link: https:/...

Updates available on militarymoneymanual.com/shutdown Air Force Aid Society – Falcon Loans up to $1,500 and Standard Assistance, up to 24 months of repayment. Space Force also eligible. Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society – Quick Assist Loan and Financial Assistance available Army Emergency Relief – Normally assistance available same day but no later than 48 hours. AER will provide rapid, zero-interest loans to help cover financial needs until normal operations and back pay resume. Assistance is available up to the amount of one net paycheck (maximum $6,000), with repayment beginning once pay is restored. If you or someone you know may be affected, please share this information. More information here. Coast Guard Mutual Assistance – Quick Loan program up to $1,000, Shutdown Loan up to 1 month's BAH per month USAA Government Shutdown Program 0% loan, credit check required, up to $6,000 Navy Federal Government Shutdown Assistance, Paycheck Assistance Program 0%, no credit check required, up to $6,000 PenFed Service Credit Union Spencer Reese delivers a timely solo episode addressing the 2025 federal government shutdown and its impact on military families. Recorded on October 8th, just days into the shutdown, this episode provides practical, actionable guidance on navigating the financial challenges of missed paychecks, accessing zero-interest loans from military-friendly banks, and protecting yourself from shutdown-related scams. While the Military Money Manual typically focuses on evergreen content, this episode addresses an urgent situation affecting active duty service members, federal employees, and military contractors. Topics Covered Government Shutdown Basics: Active duty military deemed mission essential, must continue reporting to work October 1st paycheck protected (work performed in September) October 15th paycheck at risk Historical precedent: 2018-2019 Coast Guard missed paychecks for 35 days Backpay is guaranteed by law once shutdown ends Veterans, retirees, VA disability, and Social Security payments protected (separate funding sources) USAA Government Shutdown Assistance Program: https://www.usaa.com/support/government-shutdown-program/ Zero-interest loan: $500-$6,000 based on last direct deposit amount Requirements: Direct deposit established before shutdown, at least one qualifying deposit in 30 days prior, US/military address (APO/FPO/DPO), credit approval required Repayment: 3 months, two equal installments (first payment ~60 days, second ~90 days) Additional relief: Auto/property insurance payment relief Credit cards: 3-month payment extension Consumer loans: 2-month extension with no interest Overdraft fees waived Home equity lines: 3-month payment extension Navy Federal Paycheck Assistance Program: https://www.navyfederal.org/about/government-shutdown.html Zero-interest loan: $250-$6,000 based on last direct deposit Major advantages: No credit check, not reported to credit bureaus Eligibility: Federal employees, active duty service members, federal contractors paid directly by government (broader than USAA) Registration deadline: Day before scheduled payday for funds on normal pay date (can register up to 3 days after, but won't receive funds immediately) Automatic repayment: Once direct deposit resumes, Navy Federal automatically deducts loan amount Backup repayment: If shutdown continues, repayment occurs 6 days after loan receipt Service Credit Union Options: 0% APR for up to 4 months No payments for up to 90 days Up to $5,000 for qualifying members Standard underwriting criteria applies (may require credit check) Military Aid Societies (All Interest-Free): Air Force Aid Society – Falcon Loans up to $1,500 and Standard Assistance, up to 24 months of repayment. Space Force also eligible. Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society – Quick Assist Loan and Financial Assistance available Army Emergency Relief – Normally assistance available same day but no later than 48 hours. AER will provide rapid, zero-interest loans to help cover financial needs until normal operations and back pay resume. Assistance is available up to the amount of one net paycheck (maximum $6,000), with repayment beginning once pay is restored. If you or someone you know may be affected, please share this information. More information here. Coast Guard Mutual Assistance – Quick Loan program up to $1,000, Shutdown Loan up to 1 month's BAH per month Historical Context: 2011: Near shutdown (averted) 2013: 16-day shutdown 2018: 3-day shutdown 2018-2019: 35-day shutdown (Coast Guard NOT paid) Bipartisan political theater regardless of which party controls Congress Military pay typically protected by last-minute "Pay Our Troops Act" Immediate Action Steps Reduce non-essential expenses - No big purchases or travel bookings Contact lenders - Request payment deferrals on mortgage, car, rent, student loans, credit cards Apply for 0% loans - Through USAA, Navy Federal, or Service Credit Union if needed Reach out to aid societies - Before considering any payday loans, auto title loans, or carrying credit card debt Watch for scams - Only use verified websites (USAA.com, NavyFederal.org), hang up and call back on suspicious calls Long-Term Action Steps Build an emergency fund - Minimum $1,000, ideally $10,000+ Switch to military-friendly bank - If current bank doesn't offer shutdown assistance Break paycheck-to-paycheck cycle - If missing one paycheck derails your finances, you have a financial emergency Turn off the news - Constant updates increase anxiety without adding value Focus on what you can control - Maintain internal locus of control Critical Security Warnings Scam Prevention: Only access programs through official websites: USAA.com and NavyFederal.org DO NOT use payday lenders or auto title loan companies DO NOT go through intermediaries If you receive a phone call claiming to be from Navy Federal or USAA, hang up and call back using verified number from app or official website Verify all communications independently Key Takeaways Don't panic - This has happened before and will likely happen again You will be backpaid - Military pay typically protected; backpay is guaranteed by law Assistance is available - Multiple 0% loan options and interest-free aid society loans Use this as motivation - Build financial resilience and emergency funds Emergency funds are essential - Perfect example of why military members need cash reserves Related Episodes Episode 95: Previous government shutdown episode (check for still-relevant information) Resources & Links Military-Friendly Banks: USAA.com - Government shutdown assistance NavyFederal.org - Paycheck assistance program Service Credit Union - Shutdown loan program Military Aid Societies (Interest-Free Loans): Air Force Aid Society - Covers Air Force and Space Force Navy Marine Corps Relief Society - Quick assist loans Army Emergency Relief - Same-day to 48-hour assistance Coast Guard Mutual Assistance - Quick loan program Apply for Assistance: Register with Navy Federal by day before payday for funds on schedule USAA requires credit approval (new requirement) Aid societies offer interest-free alternatives to commercial loans Who This Episode Is For Active duty military facing potential missed paychecks Federal employees impacted by shutdown Federal contractors paid directly by government Military spouses managing finances during shutdown Anyone needing immediate financial assistance during government disruptions Contact Information Host: Spencer Reese Connect: Website: MilitaryMoneyManual.com Instagram: @MilitaryMoneyManual Share this episode with others in your unit or squadron so they know the steps to take during a government shutdown. Spencer and Jamie offer one-on-one Military Money Mentor sessions. Get your personal military money and personal finance questions answered in a confidential coaching call. militarymoneymanual.com/mentor Over 20,000 military servicemembers and military spouses have graduated from the 100% free course available at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 In the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course, you can learn how to apply for the most premium credit cards and get special military protections, including waived annual fees, on elite cards like the American Express Platinum Card® and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. https://militarymoneymanual.com/amex-platinum-military/ https://militarymoneymanual.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-military/ Learn how active duty military, military spouses, and Guard and Reserves on 30+ day active orders can get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. Want to be confident with your TSP investing? Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual.

Spencer Reese and Jamie deliver a no-nonsense, tough-love episode for military families struggling with paycheck-to-paycheck living. This episode cuts through excuses and provides three immediate, actionable steps to regain control of your finances and stop the financial bleeding. If you're stressed about money, fighting with your spouse about finances, or feeling overwhelmed and behind—this episode is your emergency action procedure. Topics Covered Three Immediate Actions: Delete Social Media Apps - Remove the influence of billions of advertising dollars designed to manipulate your spending decisions Create Intentional Inconvenience - Delete delivery apps (DoorDash, Uber Eats), switch to debit cards or cash, freeze credit cards, eliminate "buy now, pay later" options Cancel All Subscriptions - Cut Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Spotify, and every other recurring charge until you're financially stable Key Financial Concepts: Emergency action procedures for financial crises The power of adding friction to spending habits - will power vs. won't power Why making life temporarily uncomfortable leads to long-term wealth Technology spending (why kids don't need $1,600 iPhones) The importance of game selection in personal finance Emergency funds turning emergencies into inconveniences Net worth tracking as a behavioral tool The Wealth Ladder Framework (Nick Maggiulli): Level 1: Less than $10,000 net worth - Focus on avoiding financial traps Level 2: $10,000-$100,000 - Avoid buying houses you can't afford, keep working hard, invest in TSP and Roth IRA Level 3: $100,000-$1 million - Where compound growth accelerates Level 4: $1 million-$10 million - Achievable for military families over a career Levels 5-6: $10 million+ - Beyond most military aspirations Common Military Family Mistakes: Spending more on housing than BAH covers Buying houses with 0% down and getting stuck Purchasing vehicles beyond their means Lifestyle inflation and comparison spending Technology overspending on devices and subscriptions Long-term vs Short-term Strategy: Short-term (Emergency Mode): Cut expenses, save the difference, get out of debt Long-term (Wealth Building): Increase income, spend on what matters, maintain healthy savings rate Books & Resources Mentioned Books: The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter - On the benefits of doing hard things The Opt-Out Family - On intentional family living Taking Your Family Back - Family relationship guidance The Anxious Generation - On technology's impact on children Dave Ramsey's principles (referenced) Tools & Resources: Libby app - Free audiobooks and ebooks MWR library system - Free military library access Net worth tracking tools Cash envelope system for budgeting Military OneSource - Free financial counseling Base financial counseling services Concepts Referenced: Nick Maggiulli Wealth Ladder framework Dave Ramsey's "pay yourself first" principle Emergency fund philosophy The 12-step program approach to financial recovery Key Quotes "Life begins just outside your comfort zone." "You have to be careful about game selection because you can win at the wrong game." "If you're the problem, you're also the solution." "As you build wealth, you stop having emergencies." "Your overspending isn't hurting me. It's not hurting Jamie. It's only hurting you and your loved ones." "You don't need to wait for financial independence to start living like you're financially independent." Practical Examples Shared Spencer's story: Freezing credit card in ice as a young lieutenant Jamie's debit card sleeve with debt payoff reminders The $1,000 emergency oil pan repair that didn't derail finances Military families spending $3,000 on housing with $2,000 BAH Hawaii homeowner unable to sell due to rising HOA fees 2022 home purchase with 0% down, now unable to sell Peloton subscription cancellation saving $132 over 3 months First graders with iPhones creating peer pressure Target Audience This episode is specifically for: Military families living paycheck to paycheck Service members stressed about money Couples fighting about finances Anyone in credit card debt or feeling financially overwhelmed Military spouses managing finances during deployments Young service members (E1-E5, O1-O3) establishing financial foundations Anyone ready to make radical changes to their financial situation Spencer and Jamie offer one-on-one Military Money Mentor sessions. Get your personal military money and personal finance questions answered in a confidential coaching call. militarymoneymanual.com/mentor Over 20,000 military servicemembers and military spouses have graduated from the 100% free course available at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 In the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course, you can learn how to apply for the most premium credit cards and get special military protections, including waived annual fees, on elite cards like the American Express Platinum Card® and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. https://militarymoneymanual.com/amex-platinum-military/ https://militarymoneymanual.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-military/ Learn how active duty military, military spouses, and Guard and Reserves on 30+ day active orders can get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. Want to be confident with your TSP investing? Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual.

Think military divorce means automatically splitting everythign 50/50 and going to court? Wrong on both counts! Certified Divorce Financial Anaylst David Smith reveals what most military families get wrong and what it costs them! In today's episode, we'll discuss the complex financial and logistical aspects of military divorce, covering everything from pension division to healthcare benefits, tax implications, and emotional support strategies. Key Topics Jurisdiction & Legal Considerations Multiple state options for filing (voting state, property ownership state, driver's license state, tax filing state) Importance of consulting with an attorney early to determine proper jurisdiction Each state has different rules, formulas, and processes JAG office can provide consultation but cannot represent service members in divorce proceedings Types of Divorce Processes Four main options: DIY without professionals, mediation, collaborative divorce, litigation Court is NOT the only option Out-of-court processes (mediation, collaborative) are often more cost-effective, private, and less stressful Consulting attorneys vs. representing attorneys - different roles and costs Military Pension Division Division is not the only option - can use offsetting with other assets Must determine what portion is "marital" vs. "separate" property Not all pension components are divisible (e.g., VA disability) Requires a Military Retirement Pay Division Order through DFAS Differences between active duty, reservist, and guard member pensions Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) Critical considerations: Only ONE SBP beneficiary can be named Previous spouses from earlier marriages may already occupy the "SBP chair" Premium costs must be negotiated Former spouse can be SBP beneficiary even without receiving pension payments Time-sensitive: Required forms must be submitted within specific timeframe or rights are lost Cannot be automatically transferred - requires proper paperwork TRICARE Benefits Courts CANNOT order TRICARE coverage - falls under federal rules Key rules: 20-20-20 (full benefits for life), 20-20-15 (transitional benefits) Based on: length of marriage, service member's creditable years, overlap period COBRA-like option available if don't meet other rules GI Bill Transfer Must be transferred WHILE married - cannot go to former spouse after divorce Service member can rescind the transfer Can be transferred to children as alternative Settlement agreement language is critical to protect this benefit Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Multiple TSPs possible (civilian federal employee spouse, reservist who went active duty) Pre-tax and Roth portions have different tax consequences Must account for outstanding loans Requires Retirement Benefits Court Order (different from pension division order) Not always split - can use offset method with other assets Other Unique Military Assets to Consider Military leave - has monetary value on LES Credit card points and miles - can be worth $30,000-$40,000 USAA Subscriber Savings Account Pets - especially valuable show animals Life insurance policies Tax Implications Filing status changes Tax bracket shifts Capital gains considerations when dividing assets Pre-tax accounts (traditional IRA, 401k) vs. post-tax accounts have different real values Child tax credits and claiming dependents Early withdrawal penalties Marital vs. Separate Property Separate property: assets brought into marriage, inheritances, gifts (if kept separate and not commingled) Marital property: everything accumulated during marriage Characterization process is essential before division discussions Financial Mistakes to Avoid Making verbal agreements before completing full financial inventory Not understanding tax consequences of asset division Overlooking hidden assets (leave balance, points/miles, etc.) Rushing decisions - most divorce decisions have no do-overs Not considering pre-tax vs. post-tax asset values Misclassifying assets as marital or separate Practical First Steps Learn about all four divorce process options If abuse is present, seek legal counsel immediately Open credit card and bank account in your own name Create timeline of important dates and duty stations Gather supporting documents (tax returns, bank statements) in cloud storage Document account numbers, login credentials, passwords Consider consulting with CDFA before hiring representing attorney Supporting Someone Through Divorce Listen deeply and empathetically Avoid projecting your own divorce experience onto theirs Don't rush them into decisions Offer practical help (childcare, meals, house cleaning) Point them to resources (counselors, family services, professionals) Give them breathing room Key Takeaways Divorce in the military involves unique complexities beyond civilian divorces Court is not the only option - consider mediation or collaborative processes Complete financial inventory BEFORE making division decisions Everything accumulated during marriage is generally marital property Professional guidance (CDFA, attorney consultation) is an investment, not just a cost Most divorce decisions are final with no do-overs - take time to understand options Resources & Links David's website: sandoakdivorcesolutions.com Free 30-minute phone consultations available David's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidsmithcdfa/ Find a CDFA through Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts: institutedfa.com Spencer and Jamie offer one-on-one Military Money Mentor sessions. Get your personal military money and personal finance questions answered in a confidential coaching call. militarymoneymanual.com/mentor Over 20,000 military servicemembers and military spouses have graduated from the 100% free course available at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 In the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course, you can learn how to apply for the most premium credit cards and get special military protections, such as waived annual fees, on elite cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card. https://militarymoneymanual.com/amex-platinum-military/ https://militarymoneymanual.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-military/ Learn how active duty military, military spouses, and Guard and Reserves on 30+ day active orders can get your annual fees waived on premium credit cards in the Ultimate Military Credit Cards Course at militarymoneymanual.com/umc3 If you want to maximize your military paycheck, check out Spencer's 5 star rated book The Military Money Manual: A Practical Guide to Financial Freedom on Amazon or at shop.militarymoneymanual.com. Want to be confident with your TSP investing? Check out the Confident TSP Investing course at militarymoneymanual.com/tsp to learn all about the Thrift Savings Plan and strategies for growing your wealth while in the military. Use promo code "podcast24" for $50 off. Plus, for every course sold, we'll donate one course to an E-4 or below- for FREE! If you have a question you would like us to answer on the podcast, please reach out on instagram.com/militarymoneymanual.

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