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September 11, 2001, changed Bob Ellis's life, just as it changed mine. Bob was working at the Pentagon that morning and had walked out of the building only minutes before Flight 77 struck the area where his meeting had taken place. You will hear how he immediately became part of the response, helping organize emergency supplies and support for those working at the Pentagon. We also compare our experiences from two different locations that day, Bob at the Pentagon and me at the World Trade Center with my guide dog Roselle. Twenty-five years later, our conversation is about more than remembering 9/11. It is about leadership, teamwork, service, controlling fear, and deciding what we do with the life we have been given. I believe Bob's story offers lessons we can all use when the unexpected happens. Highlights: 05:29-Bob shares how his early life and military support career shaped his path. 23:53-He recalls realizing the first World Trade Center strike was not an accident. 32:59-Bob describes being just 300 yards away when the Pentagon was hit. 37:00-He explains how he helped organize emergency relief supplies within hours. 1:03:54-Michael reflects on survival, fear, and the responsibility to move forward. 1:06:55-Bob shares the lasting life lessons he took from September 11. About the Guest: Bob Ellis is the Vice President, American Logistics Association responsible for Exchange, MWR, Food Service Operations. The native of Fort Walton Beach, Florida began his career with AAFES in 1972. From 1972 through 1984, he held retail management positions as a Branch Manager, and Operations Manager Main Store. In 1985, Ellis began a string of assignments as an Exchange General Manager trainee at Fort Belvoir, VA, and Exchange General Manager, Fort Hamilton, NY and Carlisle Barrack PA, (Army War College). Assignments as Area Retail Manager and General Manager at the former Japan Area Exchange ran from 1989-1992. In 1992, Ellis was transferred to Travis AFB in California as Retail Manager, Main Store. In 1994, Ellis was selected for the General Manager's position at Travis and spent three years assisting in the design and new construction effort of the largest retail Main Store ever constructed by AAFES. From 1997 to 2002, Ellis held the position of Director of AAFES' Washington Office, serving as the principal representative of the Commander, AAFES to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Departments of the Army and the Air Force, Congressional offices and industry representatives. Notable among his accomplishments, Ellis was instrumental in spearheading AAFES support to the Pentagon after the attacks of September 11th. Within 48 hours of the event, AAFES established a mobile exchange in the shadow of the impact site to support rescue workers and investigators with critical need and personal comfort items. After Washington, Ellis moved to AAFES Headquarters' in Dallas to assume the Vice President Specialty and Consumables position. In this role, Ellis was responsible for the SD-C Category Team Managers/Buyers. In August 2003, Ellis took his a position as Vice President of Corporate Planning and Communications where he managed the development of AAFES long range and contingency planning programs, oversight of corporate public affairs and ensured compliance with Department of Defense policy guidance with the goal of preserving and protecting the exchange benefit for soldiers and airmen and their families around the globe. Bob joined the ALA on 31 July 2006 where he continues to serve a role in military resale supporting Exchange, MWR, and Food Service, operations still serving military resale over 51 years continuous service. Ways to connect with Bob**:** You can find more benefits how Branded Riches can help you build your Brand, Product, Business, and Yourself at https://www.BrandedRiches.com Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neryk-davydov Branded Riches Audiobook by Neryk Davydov https://www.audible.com/pd/Branded-Riches-Audiobook/B0GCP9MMRB Branded Riches Book https://www.amazon.com/Branded-Riches-Increase-Income-Irresistible/dp/1987753836 $5 Free Gift for Creating A New Ovato Wallet www.ovatoCoin.com About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson 00:00 Everyone, I am Michael Hingson, the host of Unstoppable Mindset. You've heard my voice for the last 471 episodes, but I'm calling you all out today and asking you to listen to this because we're going to make a special announcement now regarding the next four episodes, starting with 472. We're going to help commemorate the historic events of September 11, 2001. Yes, they're definitely historic, although not necessarily the most positive things that have ever happened. But as many of you may know, I was in the World Trade Center working on September 11, 2001, on the 78th floor of Tower One, and escaped with my guide dog. I've delivered a speech about that, which we put in the first episode of this podcast series back in August of 2021. But this Friday, episode 472 is going to have an updated speech that I delivered just a few years ago at the Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. That festival is a yearly event celebrating different kinds of things that have happened in American history, and I was invited to come and speak, which I did. I'm going to put that speech up for you as episode 472. I think you'll find it enlightening. It'll teach you something about blindness and blind people. It'll tell you my story, and it'll give you some inspiration that I hope you will find helpful. Next Tuesday, september 8, Michelle Abraham is going to interview me. Michelle is with Amplify You, the company that does all of our back office stuff and helps me with the editing and other things regarding the podcast. Michelle owns her own podcast, and she is going to interview me about September 11th and other kinds of things relating to what I've learned and things that have happened over the past 25 years. She's also going to be putting this up on her podcast Amplify You, so you can find us in a lot of different places. On September 11th, I'm going to chat with Bob Ellis. Bob was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and had literally just walked out the door of the Pentagon when the plane crashed into the Pentagon and did the things and the damage that it did, and of course generated all the things that occurred at the Pentagon. On the 15th of September, I'm going to come back and have a conversation with all of you about lessons that I've learned over the past 25 years, and just reminisce a little bit about all of that. While the podcast is occurring on September 11th, I will be actually in Kilgore, Texas, doing a speech about September 11th. So lots of things going on, I hope you listen to these episodes. I hope that you'll tell everyone that you can about them. I really enjoy all of the support that you've given us over the years, and we're going to continue to do things with Unstoppable Mindset. And of course, as always, if you'd like to come on or know anyone who would, please let us know. We're always looking for guests. Thanks very much. We'll see you on Friday with the first of these four episodes. What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. You are listening to us today, or at least I'm assuming you're listening just when this came out. But whenever you're listening, it is today, September 11th, 2026, which is needless to say, a special day. If you have kept up with my podcast from the beginning, you know that I worked in the World Trade Center on September 11th, and ever since then I've been a public speaker, traveling the world, talking about trust, teamwork, leadership, the human-animal bond, and a variety of things. But recently, I met Bob Ellis. Michael Hingson 04:40 Now, Bob, as it turns out, on September 11th worked at the Pentagon, and I have not ever really had the opportunity to talk with someone who was at the Pentagon, especially on September 11th. But we get to chat about that today, and Bob knows our rules, which are basically. He sent me a series of questions that he wants to cover, but we are doing this as a conversation, so we'll probably talk about a lot of the things that he specifically sent. But we can go any old way that Bob wants to go, so that's what we'll we'll make this really fun. And I'm really looking forward to having the opportunity to talk with Bob. So again, welcome to September 11th, and Bob, I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad you're here, Bob Ellis 05:28 Michael. Thank you for inviting me. I know you you've inquired several times, and I've debated it, and and I was just holding it for the right time, and this is the right time-the 25th anniversary of the event. Michael Hingson 05:40 Yeah, it is, and and and as as we've said, if you find anybody who needs a a speaker to come in and speak, let me know. But but for now, we get to chat about you and and hear your story, which I think is the important thing. I think we'll probably talk about both of our stories in the course of the day, no doubt about it. But I really am glad that you are here and that you are able to to talk with us today and and and talk about things. So let's start the way I love to start with people. Let's start at the beginning. Tell me kind of about the early Bob growing up and so on. Let's start with that. Bob Ellis 06:17 Well, I I grew up in let's say grew up until I was four years old. I lived. I was born in Pensacola, Florida. Lived in the Panhandle. Mother and father got divorced, and we moved to Norfolk, Virginia. And it was just my my mother and I until I was 14 years old. And I found out about my dad and found some letters from him and insisted to go see him. And so, between 14 and 15, I made a couple of unauthorized attempts to to make my way to Florida. On the third attempt, I made it, and it was quite a surprise for my father. Ended up living with him and being my closest friend up until I had he had grandkids, we had kids, and so I lived and grew up in the Destin, Fort Worth, Fort Walton area. Went to work, and this is where the story begins. I went to work at Eglin Air Force Base as a as a janitor in a gas station for the Army Air Force Exchange Service, so that I could continue to play high school football and practice, was a great job. It was an opportunity to work with the military, be around the military, and I took great pride in that feeling that that that that while I I wanted to go into the air force and I wanted to fly jets, that opportunity just never presented itself because the Vietnam War was going on and they were banking pilots instead of taking pilots. Anyway, I I ended up staying with the Army Air Force Exchange Service for 34 years. I moved all over the world. I've seen the every AOR and every combat scenario since the Vietnam War. Not in the Vietnam War, but I was in the refugee program, helping with the resettlement back in 1972, 1973. Spent the rest of my career going wherever they sent me, and and and that was from Tokyo, Japan, to to Tuli, Greenland, to California, and ultimately to to Texas. Michael Hingson 08:30 I remember during the Vietnam War, someone called me one day. I was a student at UC Irvine, and there was a refugee camp fairly close to the university, and someone said, and someone said, "There's a blind young man at the sent at the refugee center, and we should go see him. And so we we bought a transistor radio for him and went out to visit with him and spent some time with him, and I never got to see him after that. But I hope I hope he did well. He he seemed like he was doing okay, but he was a little bit lost, needless to say, because it's a whole bunch of people. There are no a lot of people who knew much about blindness and blind people, but I would presume he did reasonably okay. I hope so, but that was the only time I specifically had an involvement with him or anyone at the refugee camps. Later, when I met my wife Karen, she lived, I think, a door down, and she and her parents lived a door down from a Vietnamese couple, and he was a tailor and actually made her wedding dress, which was kind of cool, and so we got to spend a fair amount of time with the Voo's, which was was good, but what's. Interesting for me now, with with now being well so many years later. In November, I will be going to do a speech in Hanoi, so I'm really looking forward to to going over there and and experiencing it. At least it'll be a little bit cooler then than it probably is now. So we'll see, but it'll be it'll be pretty enjoyable to go and again see a different a different part of the world, and I I think we'll be fine. At least that's that's that's the plan. Bob Ellis 10:34 That that that that tour that I had at Eglin Air Force Base with the refugees, will come back to to to 911 2001 and the experiences that I had at that refugee camp replicated in the Pentagon park and lot there in 911. So we'll get to that. I'll explain it further. Michael Hingson 10:56 Yeah, I'm sure it was a a great a great lesson. Where did you do college, or did you Bob Ellis 11:03 went to went to Duke University and the University and the University of Maryland? Michael Hingson 11:10 Okay. Well, at Bob Ellis 11:12 least much of it was correspondence as well, only because I was deployed for for so many years back to back, 17 moves in 34 years. Michael Hingson 11:22 Wow, Duke University. At least you didn't go to one of those other schools in North Carolina. Boy, talk about talk about rivalries and basketball. What a what a group down there. Bob Ellis 11:35 Oh, I know, I know. Michael Hingson 11:38 I once spoke in Kentucky, and the Wildcats were in the NCAA championship that year, and I was asked to speak at an event on the night of the championship. But I was told I had to end by 630. I could not go one second past 630 because the gym I was speaking in was going to clear out. Well, I ended in time so that at 630, what they said was absolutely true. That gym cleared out. Everybody went home to watch the game. Bob Ellis 12:09 That's that's sports. Michael Hingson 12:11 Not sports. It is, but it's okay. I I learned a lot down there and got to meet a number of people, and so it was it was a lot of fun to to do it, and then years later I was in North Carolina when NC State and UNC were playing to see who was going to go into the championship. So again, pretty interesting world, and and sports ruled everything then, so it's okay. It Bob Ellis 12:43 hasn't it hasn't changed at all because my my my daughter I got her graduate studies done at NC State, and it hasn't changed a bit. It's just I'll bet it's just crazy as it's when was 20 3040 years ago, Michael Hingson 12:58 and it shall ever be, won't it? Bob Ellis 13:01 Yeah, yeah. Her undergraduate degree was at University of Texas. This was my son's, and she went on to NC State, and and he went on to medical school in in Houston. Michael Hingson 13:16 Okay. Well, UC Irvine, when I was there, had the championship water polo team, but that's what we had. But they started basketball while I was there, although it wasn't anything huge. But a couple of years ago, they made it to the Sweet 16, and that was kind of fun for UC Irvine. One of these days, it'll go all the way. Bob Ellis 13:40 Yep. Michael Hingson 13:41 Well, anyway, so you you went to college, and and what did you major in? Bob Ellis 13:45 Political science. Michael Hingson 13:47 Okay, political science Bob Ellis 13:48 and business management. With a with my two aspirations, I wanted to. I really wanted to major in in aviation science, but that that wasn't offered. So that's political science and business science, business law. Michael Hingson 14:06 But you were working for the Army Air Force Exchange Service. What is that exactly? Bob Ellis 14:11 Yeah, it's a it's it's it's a non-appropriated funded Service provided all goods. I think of it as the the Walmart or the Target of of the civilian sector, except the Army Air Force Exchange Service has stored everything from stores, every business that you can think of therein, from stores to convenience stores to gas stations to beauty shops and barber shops to dining facilities, franchise Burger Kings, anything that a soldier and his family needs at the base or overseas or in the combat arena, where we were there with it, providing it. It's been a great career. Michael Hingson 14:59 Did you? Do you have any involvement with, especially here in the U.S. the the Randolph Sheppard programs, the blind vending stand operations at any of the facilities? Bob Ellis 15:09 Yep, sure did many many times. We're still working with it. There's there's some issues present right now under the Randolph Shepherd that they're looking at. I don't know what what's going to change, but yes, sir, we were very, very close to that. Michael Hingson 15:24 Yeah, I know there. The current government's looking at it; they want to scale a lot of it back, which would, I think, not be a good thing. I think there's a lot of reasons to keep it, but we'll see. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. But I, the closest I ever came to dealing with anything from AAES was I was invited to speak once at an organizational meeting of the National Property Managers Association in the military. Are you familiar with that? Bob Ellis 15:56 I am. Yes. Michael Hingson 15:57 And when I was asked to come, the Speakers Bureau didn't do a good research job because they told me, "Oh, it's the people who rent apartments and all that. When I got down to the to the event, I will say that the National Property Managers Association certainly serves a nice breakfast. But anyway, the conversation just didn't seem like what I what I was expecting. So I asked somebody, and they told me that the organization was the organization that had complete jurisdiction over anything physical that the government owned, and Bob Ellis 16:30 absolutely Michael Hingson 16:31 that that changed my grass. Sorry, Bob Ellis 16:34 right down to the grass, right down to the grass and the concrete. Michael Hingson 16:37 There you go. Well, it also changed my speech in 10 minutes, but it was fun. They invited me back the next year, so that was good. But it's it's fun when you're you're planning to do a particular speech, and suddenly it turns out it's got to change. It's good to have the flexibility to do that. But I'm I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it, and hopefully we'll have opportunities to do it again, but you have served a lot of different kinds of of services within AAES, and and I assume that's all worked out pretty well. Bob Ellis 17:14 That that worked out very well. Yep, I had I started at the bottom and and climbed as close to the top as I possibly could, but Michael Hingson 17:23 you eventually got the the highest medal that was available for civilians when you retired or after you retired. Bob Ellis 17:31 No, the highest award that I ever received was from my man over the Pentagon 911 support program, which was a nice medoris civilian award. Michael Hingson 17:46 Okay, where is your favorite place to live in the world? Or is that really easy to say? I mean, you've been all over the place and seen a lot of different kinds of places. Don't know how much you got to two of them, but anyway, Bob Ellis 18:00 it wasn't the two places that I that I went overseas, which was Japan and Greenland. Those were the longest tours of my life. Beautiful country in Japan, and and great facilities and support in tuning Greenland. But I would I would guess throughout the United States, I had a great assignment at the Army War College, and I had a great assignment at Travis Air Force Base here in Michael Hingson 18:26 California. Yeah, Bob Ellis 18:28 yeah. Michael Hingson 18:30 I've spoken. Bob Ellis 18:30 My son was born in Japan. He's dual citizen as a result on the Air Force Base, and my daughter was born in California. So it was a great time, mainly because the kids were younger and and and and we were in great climate areas. Michael Hingson 18:48 When people ask me what my favorite place in the United States is, I say everywhere. I I just enjoy meeting people wherever I go in the U.S. It's so many different cultures and customs and ways of doing things. It is so fun to to see all the different places and see how they are. People ask what I like, where I like outside the U.S. And so far, it's been New Zealand. I would say is probably the best, but Japan has to be up there too. I've really enjoyed being in Japan. I've been there a couple times, and I thoroughly enjoyed Bob Ellis 19:23 it. I, I had, I think the most the the greatest thing about the assignments was some of the people I I got to to meet in in my in my tours. One of them would be the Crown Prince of of Thailand, who who is now the king of Thailand, King Rama, got to meet him when he was a pilot, and supported him when when I was at Yokota Air Base, and multiple other celebrities. I I had the opportunity as a kid to attend the funeral. For Douglas MacArthur, and and his his memorial was right across the street in North Virginia from where my mother worked. And 20 years later, I had the opportunity to to meet mrs. Mcarthur, Jean MacArthur, at Gracie Mansion in New York, and I I I wrote protocol. I when it came time for her to to meet me and meet meet her, I got down on one knee and I held her hand and I said, "I want to tell you a little story, ma'am. And she said, "Well, certainly, absolutely. And I told her the story how when the general had died in in 1964, I was required by my my mother to go to the funeral, and the most fascinating person I'd ever seen in my life was herself, and she just got she just turned red. Well, long story short, I was at an army command at Fort Hamilton. The next day, the the group the the installation commander called me over to his office, very angry, but he wanted me to know that I was going to be the first civilian aide for the old lady, which was mrs. Mcarthur, and he had to take one of his lieutenants off. And I got to know the family and and the Mcarthurs as a result of that. So lots of opportunities, just absolutely amazing. 911, and we'll get to it. I got to meet President Bush momentarily, but I I got to meet him and have a short conversation. Michael Hingson 21:32 I got to meet him in 2005. We went to the Oval Office, and we were supposed to have a two minute photo op, but he kept wanting to interact. We ended up talking for about 15 minutes. He kept the Italian ambassador or prime minister waiting, but it was a was a great conversation. I very much enjoyed having the opportunity to meet with him. Bob Ellis 21:53 Yeah, he was remarkable. Michael Hingson 21:54 Yeah, in in so many ways. If Speaker 1 22:00 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson 22:33 So that's that's pretty cool. So as you were going around to all these different places, what would you say you were learning. Bob Ellis 22:41 I was learning business. I was learning relationships. I was learning marketing. Pretty much anything that you wanted to do as a general manager or a vice president, the exchanges let you do it. You know, until you got too far gone, and they they reel you back in. But I love being able to run multiple businesses on the installation, and and be accountable for them, and run them at a profit, and and at the end of the day, do great things for military families. Michael Hingson 23:16 Wow! So you um, you you've you've had a lot of challenges and and had to learn a lot of different things. Needless to say, but I would would think that you've you've been able to to keep a lot of that and use it. And you know we've referred to September 11 th, and so let's let's get to around that time. The first thing I would ask, and people have asked me, but you're in a better position in theory than I. Did you have any inkling that something like September 11th was going to happen? Bob Ellis 23:53 Well, actually, September 11th was was happening. I left for work about 4:30 in the morning. I lived out in the suburbs in Centerville, Virginia, and it was one of those days that you just wished you didn't have to go to work. It was the as the sun was coming up, it had a little cold breeze to it. The skies were blue. It was just one of those days that you just wanted to sit out in the yard and and relax or go bicycling, whatever. But I did my duty and I drove in to the Washington D.C. area and reported to my office on time, which was right around 5o'clock. My staff showed up around six and some at seven, and my secretary came in, and I don't know exactly what time it was, but it was shortly after, right around 9o'clock in Eastern Time, when the first airplane had hit the the trade center. Michael Hingson 24:49 Yeah, Bob Ellis 24:49 846-940-6846, Yes, right, 846. Yeah, and and so I I went in to look at the. The the television monitor standing there it was just her and I at the time and and and I said that's not an accident and she says how do you know that I said look at the skies that was an airliner they were talking about it was a little small private aviation well I'm a pilot I've been a pilot for 40 years 41 years I knew exactly, you know, that that where it was, what it was doing, and that wasn't a it wasn't an accident. And and my inkling was is that I was in a in rented space in Arlington, Virginia, because we had been moved out because the wedge that got attacked was the one that was still under construction. My office had not been completed there, and and I had a meeting in that wedge at 9o'clock that morning. And my secretary said to me, "You know, Bob, the Pentagon is next. And I paused for a minute and I looked at her and I said, "How in the world could you even imagine that, you know that that that's a fortress? Who would be crazy enough to attack the Pentagon? And she says, I I just I don't want you to go over, you know, just just just do it by phone, which I I probably could have done. And I said, No, I'm I'm going to go over there. If they're going if they're going to attack the Pentagon, I'm going to go down with it, and that was kind of my philosophy. So, in the back of my mind, seeing that airplane hit the Trade Center and her telling me that certainly made me wonder if it wasn't a possibility. Michael Hingson 26:33 So, you didn't. You don't think that anyone, and I've never heard of any such, but that anyone had any advance notice? There wasn't chatter. There wasn't anything that made people suspect what might be getting ready to happen. Bob Ellis 26:47 No, I I I think that is the the worst our country has ever been off guard. It reminds me of you know the the attack on Hawaii and that you know in in Pearl Harbor. We were completely unprepared, and I thought we were completely unprepared on 911. And in fact, after the attack, I knew we were unprepared when I saw the two jets fly over with no armament on the wings. So no, I don't think anybody had any idea. Michael Hingson 27:18 Well, the other side of it, and I've talked about this in in some talks I've given. I talk a lot about trust and teamwork, and like it or not, one of the things that I observe is you had 19 terrorists who functioned well enough as a team that they didn't talk about it. They didn't let anything come out. So no matter how much armament or whatever we might have had, I'm not sure whether we could have predicted that on September 11th, what occurred was going to happen. Bob Ellis 27:49 You know, all the indicators were there. You know, those those 19 trained at private airports, and they and during their training, it was it was reported multiple times that all they were interested in was taking off, not landing. I mean, first clue, you know. Okay. Why would you just be interested? He's taking off an airplane, and and I always found that very curious, and I'd heard it several times. That should have set alarm bells off. Should have. It didn't. Apparently, it did. Michael Hingson 28:20 Good point, and you know the the thing is though that, as as you pointed out, who would have thought that anybody would attack the Pentagon, the fortress that it was? Who Bob Ellis 28:33 yeah, Michael Hingson 28:33 who would have thought? So again, you can only go by what you got, and so nobody, I think, would have ever imagined that. Well, of course, the first plane hit the World Trade Center, and at first, people didn't really know what happened because there were really not very many people who who saw it. In fact, we only have the few photos that were taken by the French photographers who were there for something else, but then a little after nine, the second plane hit, and that changed the dynamic and changed the perspective a lot. Although a bunch of people who started seeing it on TV thought it was just a movie, and it wasn't true, but the second plane hitting changed the attitudes. I think for most people, and that's when people knew something was going on. Bob Ellis 29:24 Yeah, I didn't know anything about the second trade center. I had left my office in Crystal City, and I had headed to the Pentagon. And the meeting, the meeting that I had was with the Army Personnel Chief and several other folks. And as it turned out, that is exactly the window that the airplane flew into. That was ground zero for the for the for the target for the airplane going in just above the first floor for the Pentagon. So I didn't know anything. I was I was trapped at that point. I was trapped. Couldn't go um. Wouldn't go um. Didn't want to go um. And I had lived in New York City for five years, and I was my biggest. I was always impressed by the New York City Fire Department. I mean, they're they're just walking heroes if you've ever seen them. I mean, they were like they were like giants when you got next to them, and that they would they were just superhumans. And I always wondered upon the top floors how in the world you would get a fire put out at the top of the World Trade Center, and and I did not know until two days later when I made it home. That was my first question to my family: How did they get the the fire out at the top of the World Trade Center? And I and and it was repeated to me centers, and I said, What are you talking about? Centers in my family, and they said, "Bob, the World Trade Centers are gone. I said, "I don't understand. How could they be gone? And that was that. That was you know two days later that I found out about that. It was quite a shock to me to learn what it actually while I was on on the Pentagon mission. Michael Hingson 30:58 Well, when the first plane hit. Well, in the second plane, the firefighters were going up the stairs carrying all their equipment, and I had had had known about that and asked people, "Well, why are you or would you be carrying equipment? Because I met I I didn't meet the FDNY people ahead of the World Trade Center attacks, but I did meet with other people to learn about emergency preparedness and so on because I felt as the leader of an office, it was my job to know because I wasn't going to be able to read signs, and I love information, so I was trying to learn all I could, and they told me that where would if you if you had equipment stored in the in the towers, then people would go to it. Firefighters would go to it and get the the equipment. What floor do you put it on? Because no matter what floor you put it on, what if the fire broke out one floor below? You know, you can't get to the equipment. So the only way they could get up the stairs to fight the fires was to carry all of the equipment with them, yep, yep. Not enough is said about those guys in history. No, and I met a number of them coming up the stairs as we were going down, and they wanted to escort me down, and I didn't want them to do that because I knew they were a team, and I I pushed back pretty hard and said, no, you guys go up and we'll go down unless we can help you fight the fires, and they said no. The reason they eventually let me go down without any assistance was I had a friend with me who could see, and I said, "Look, David can see. Don't worry about us. And David and they turned to David and they said, "You're with him. And David said, "Yeah, leave him alone. He's fine. So we went on down, and they went up. I don't know whether the people we interacted with made it down or perished up above. It was about 10 after 10 after nine or so when we got to the 30th floor where we met them. So it was another hour and almost 20 minutes before the tower collapsed, but I don't know where the firefighters were, or how many people from the groups that we interacted with perished, or if they all made it out. I don't know, but Bob Ellis 33:12 yep, I I memorized all those numbers. You know, 189 between the airplane and the Pentagon, 200 injured, but 189. 189 total were 64 on the airplane, 125 in the Pentagon, and I'll never forget those numbers. Yeah, I'll never forget the time. I looked at my watch at 9:17, and and I have to tell you that on 9/11, I always sit very quietly until I get past 917, not 937. I'm sorry, 937. Michael Hingson 33:48 So Bob Ellis 33:48 in the morning. Michael Hingson 33:49 So, how close were you to where the plane came into the Pentagon? Bob Ellis 33:56 About 300 yards. When when it was clear that the meeting wasn't going to happen because the air traffic control system had been shut down. They released us to go back to our our offices, and I was going out the front door. I left about 930. It was supposed to start at nine 930. The generals said we'll just reconvene, and and I agreed. And from his office on on the south portico, I was walking out the front door. Literally, I heard the engines spool up. I had been in the AOR in rail combat munitions, and and I've heard cruise missiles, and and I could hear this one spinning up, and I thought it was a cruise missile, and so when it hit when it hit the building, it was just it was just a horrendous sound. But my first impression was to run to it to see what happened, what what what caused that, and there was nothing there. It was just four or five cars burning and smoke billowing out of the building. And and the the rest turned into a you know a rescue and a a recovery. Michael Hingson 35:08 AOR is what Bob Ellis 35:10 the area of responsibility. Michael Hingson 35:13 Okay, area of responsibility. Okay, Bob Ellis 35:16 yeah, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, wherever we are, it's it's N A O R, and that's your A O R. That's state. That's where you are. So that that's where I encountered first first and only live person coming out of the building, and which was a which was a really big surprise. But I knew that there was something that I I had to do, and and one of the things was to, if he needed assistance, getting him assistance. And there were several people. He was he was he was burned third degree burns over his whole body. He lived. I said one prayer was for him. And as it turned out, he became a a great ambassador. Turned out to be a great friend, and is actually back in the Pentagon to this day, just steps away from his old office as a civilian, went went back on a presidential appointment. Michael Hingson 36:09 So, you mentioned the general a while ago. Was did he survive? Bob Ellis 36:15 No, he was the he was the highest ranking person that we lost in in the entire encounter, and it was the entire office was just instantly vaporized. So he did not survive. Michael Hingson 36:33 Well, so you heard the engines revving up, and you went after you heard the explosion and so on. You went over to see what was going on, and then what did you do? Because it certainly had to be a major surprise and a shock by any standard. Bob Ellis 36:49 Yeah, I went that side of the building, saw the hole in the building, kind of convinced myself it was a cruise missile, but I never heard such a loud engine noise. As it turned out, it was it was two big engines off of a 757 200, and so I immediately tried to figure out you know what can I do? What should I do? Should I even be here? And that's when I saw the colonel coming out of the building, and I was able to walk with him and four others over to the the road, the Washington Boulevard that goes around the Pentagon, and and I sat down on the telephone pole, a light pole that the airplane hit going in. Now I'm a pilot, and and I have to tell you to take an airplane going at Mach point eight seven, and hit a target, hit the building, and not hitting the ground was just absolutely amazing to me. So as they got the colonel into an SUV and and and got him out of the the scene, I sat there. Just it was almost like a movie I was watching. The triage was being set up. The Pentagon was burning. The emergency services units were starting to show up, and we had very intermittent phone capability. And I had I had a a friend, my my the commander that I worked for in Dallas at the time. This secretary's husband was a bodyguard for Secretary Rumsfeld, and and Secretary Rumsfeld was actually carrying litter patients, carrying people out of the debris area and out of the offices. He was actually helping people, and he he realized that something needed to be done. So he gave Jerry a note, a piece of paper. We called them snowflakes, but it was a tablet, and he had listed what needed to be done and what needed to be done now. And Jerry found me sitting over there and gave me that that piece of paper, and it had everything listed on it. He wanted a a tactical field operation in place. He wanted it now, not yesterday. He wanted something in the interim, and it was to provide emergency relief supplies. So I I sat down on that telephone pole and I called our our local dist not local our largest distribution center in the world was down in Newport News, and I got the director on the phone and I said, I have an official order from you coming from the Secretary of Defense, and and don't override, don't just just follow my instructions until we can get to the commander at AFIS headquarters, and so I gave him the list. I just gave him the full list of things that we needed to get rolling, and I called another gentleman that was just across the river, the American Logistics Association, which owned all of the brokers and manufacturers, and I gave him a list of stuff that we needed now, like Gatorade boots. the The surface was over 2000 degrees, and the emergency service boots were melting almost upon contact. So I had I had 1000s, hundreds of 1000s of dollars of equipment. And supplies coming in, and we set up the USO tent, put everything in the USO tent. We raided all the stores in the in the Washington D.C. area. I was able to contact the region manager, and I told him, you know, what we needed to take it off the shelf, put it in the back seat of the cars, don't account for it, and get it to me. And that's what we did the entire first night was setting up the USO trailer, and the next morning I had two tactical field tractor trailers coming up the ramp just as the sun was coming up, and they were loaded with supplies, and that's what stayed in place for the next two months. Over $2 million worth of merchandise, emergency recovery type merchandise, everything from linens to the towels to eye wash, and and and we had to actually have some special boots made out of leather for the dogs because the dogs' feet were so it was it was quite an operation. We ended up well running within within 24 hours of the attack, Michael Hingson 41:04 why is it that you are able to stay pretty focused through all of this? Bob Ellis 41:08 I you know I you know I I've often asked that question. I wanted to go home. Alls I could think of is my kids, my wife. What what are they doing? What are they thinking? They're watching this on the news, and I had I had drifted over to which my car was very close, and it was taped off. The parking lot was taped off. It was a crime scene. There was no going anywhere. There was no transportation. If I wanted to walk 40 miles, I guess I could have, but because I couldn't go anywhere, I had to do something there on the scene, so that's that's that's what I did, and and it wasn't until the next day when the phone started working again, our two star in Dallas was able to get through to me on on my BlackBerry, and he wanted to know what the situation was, and and and I told him, and and he said, what what are we going to do? And I explained to him what we had done already, and he says, "How did you do all of that? I said, "I picked up the phone and I told him I was working for Secretary Rumsfeld, and this is the order. And and he says, "How are we going to pay for all of this? I said, "Sir, this is our finest hour. We're not. We're going to donate. These are all donating goods, and and it really was an interesting. I I just I just don't know. I was compelled. He he he ordered me on that second day to go home, and and I said I had no way to go home. And he said go to the motor pool. I'm going to call the motor pool. He had been the commander of the Air Force One Squadron, so he had a lot of connections in Washington, and he he got me a car, and I went home long enough to change clothes and and and to come back out. So it was it was just out of adrenaline, I think. Somebody had to do something, and and everything that I've told you here today is not written anywhere in history. I own every bit of what happened in in in that story, other than some of the people that were working there. Michael Hingson 43:07 What phone did you use that first day? You said you're you're it was the second day or the next day that you're phoned. So how were you able to communicate? Bob Ellis 43:17 We had Blackberries, and and until the networks got completely overrun, we were able to use it. And and so by the second third day, we we had pretty consistent communication, because the the the commander called me back that same morning, and and he said, you know, he said, how come you haven't been home? And I explained to him, and he says, "Will you do me one favor? And I said, "I would. He said, "Will you go back into the building? Said, "Sir, the building's on fire. He says, "Well, well, you get in the front, and I'm looking at it. He was looking at it on television, and the military clothing store was in the very front, within 100 feet, probably of that door that I went out of. And he says, "Would you see if our people survive, and if the store itself survived? It was sitting near the the area. I went in the store. I went into the building, into the burning building, and was able to look in the door, and I could see that the the room was full of smoke, and the door was locked. So I told him I would assume that our people made it out, alive and okay. And they say that was a, and they did, and they absolutely did. And in fact, everybody that that that that had any kind of supervisory capability around the Beltway, they volunteered to come over and work for me and and operating that facility for 2024 hours a day, seven days a week. Wow! So and not and not to shorten the the question, I wasn't there, but because of what I was doing in the in the Pentagon, my old homestead was at Fort Hamilton. Fort Hamilton picked up the same thing and went over to the Trade Center area, and they gave them a place to put a mobile. Food truck, and they brought supplies in and pretty much supported the firefighters and the and the and the police there. So so we had quite an operation going for a long time. Michael Hingson 45:11 Yeah, and and needed to, but it was interesting and commendable that in both places people were able to focus, and were able to carry out missions. I know at the World Trade Center when the two towers collapsed. Of course, it was it was unexpected, but we know now, of course, why they collapsed. It wasn't that the planes hit; it's that they were they were full of what 36,000 pounds of jet fuel each, and that exploding jet fuel is what damaged the infrastructure of the buildings to cause them to be able to collapse. But as well as at the Pentagon, but very quickly people were able to start to move and deal with issues and put procedures in place that were able to, I'm sure, keep more people from perishing and keep kept more people being able to focus throughout the whole the whole sequence of events. It it certainly was very scary, but it is something that that people like you were able to do. I know for me, the reason I was able to focus was because I had learned what to do in an emergency at the World Trade Center. I spent time with people and I learned how the whole building was structured, so I knew when the building tipped, why it tipped, and and things like that. You Bob Ellis 46:40 felt it. You you felt it. Michael Hingson 46:43 Oh yeah. Oh my god. We moved probably at least 20 feet, and then it came back, and oh my Speaker 2 46:48 god, it Michael Hingson 46:48 got vertical again. It got vertical again, and then a few seconds later, it dropped about six feet because the expansion joints went back to their normal configuration. But Bob Ellis 46:59 we uh we we knew from 937 till about 5o'clock that evening there would be no more survivors. It was over, and and and the dogs were getting depressed because they were they were they were not cadaver dogs. They were recovery dogs, and they were used to fight. And we we actually had ceremonies for the dogs every day, where we sewed flags onto their collars, and they had special water and special food. So they played a big, big role in morale, mine especially. Michael Hingson 47:33 And at the same time, I know people had to do drills to keep the dogs focused because they weren't able to find people, as you said, so they had to do things to give them something to find to keep them happy, which was was so important. Bob Ellis 47:50 Yeah, that we had two two tractor trailers lined up. It was just just two 300 feet from where you went into the damaged area of the Pentagon, and those dogs and their handlers would get up underneath those trailers and sleep, and they would play with the dogs. We actually had some carpets brought out, tarps brought out, and that's kind of where that was kind of their headquarters during 911. We had to make it up as we went along, and and the other interesting part of this story is in 1972 at the at the refugee camp, I was sleeping in the back of a van because there was just no way to go home. It was too it was too far to drive home to turn around and come back at 8o'clock the next morning, and I heard somebody knocking at the door, and and and I and I opened up the door, and it was a military colonel in uniform, and there was a civilian standing there with him. And he says, "Are you part of this operation? And I said, "Yes, sir, I am. He said, "Who are you with? And I said, "The Army Air Force Exchange Service. And and he says, "You're not provided any other facilities. This, I said, that was my choice. And as it turned out, I was speaking to Secretary Rumsfeld during his first administration as Secretary of Defense, and it was interesting that when he found out that what I did in in that program, I won the Indo Indo China Award for service, and then of course you you move ahead to to 2001, and we we knew each other. I had briefed him several times, and we we knew each other in the Pentagon. And that day, he knew that I would know what to do for the support role, and that's why he sent the letter up. And as it turned out, when he retired and and left the Pentagon, he was on a book tour, and and the the general secretary and myself got an invite to come to the book tour with him and and have lunch with him. And he handed me a book and he said, "I want you to have this, but I don't want you to open it up until you, Bob. I don't want you to open it up till you get home. I don't want you to give it to your wife. And and it was like this. Sure, I'm not not a problem, and so I got I got home. You know, this is this is 10 years later, and handed the book to her, and I said, "Open it up. I'm not wasn't allowed, and there's a nice thank you page on the front from Secretary Rums for allowing him to use me on 9/11, and you just you just that's the best reward that I could have ever ever expected. A guy that I just idolized to do that. Michael Hingson 50:26 When you got home, so you weren't able to talk to your wife before you got home, or did you ever get communication so you could call her? Bob Ellis 50:33 No, I didn't. I when I finally got the phone back up and running and got in the car. I had lost the battery, so I said, "I'm gonna be home in in an hour. I'll just be there. But General Wax called up, and she answered the phone. She went. She went sometime during that day and pulled the kids out of the private school, brought them home. She could see my car. It was a yellow SUV, and she could see it in the South parking lot in the news choppers going around. She said that was my car where my spot was, and General Wax got her on the phone and she and and she answered the phone and he said this is C J Wax and she thought that was the call. She thought that was it, and she alls I could do was drop to my knees and and and C J said and it's it's okay. I've ordered him to come home. He's all right. He's running. He's running a a program for us for for recovery. And if he's not there, he should be there shortly. And then by the time I got there, I got to the front step. I'm asking the question about the World Trade Center, how they got the fire out, and I was ordered that I could not go in the house because I smelled like smoke. So, so two minutes before that, I was the most important person in the world, and and then all of a sudden, I was I was back to Bob, and I wasn't going to wear that that suit in the house to to smoke it. So anyway, that's that's how she found out. He he called her up. I asked him. I think I asked him if he would get in touch with her at our last conversation, and he did. Michael Hingson 52:06 Soon after both towers collapsed, like a minute or so later, I called and got through to my wife Karen. I had talked with her before we left our office, and then when we got downstairs, I couldn't get through to her because the circuits were busy, and it was obvious that everyone we learned later was saying goodbye to loved ones, and so the circuits were busy. So after both towers collapsed, I was able to get through to her, and as I tell people, there were tears on both sides of the phone at the when that conversation started, but she was the first one who told us how two aircraft had been crashed into the World Trade Center towers, one to the Pentagon, and at that time, the fourth one was apparently still missing over Pennsylvania, and of course, then it crashed at Shanksville. Bob Ellis 52:52 I love it. Michael Hingson 52:54 Yeah, but we, you know, we talked, so she knew I was okay. Then a friend of ours, Tom Painter, who had been a friend of Karen's at high school out in California, but Tom, over the years, had ended up moving to New Jersey. He came down to stay with her, not knowing until he arrived whether I was in the office that day or out with a customer or what was going on. And of course, then she told him, and so he drove her to the train station to pick me up. When, when I got back out to Westfield, we went home. And you talk about with with dogs. We got in the house, and I took Roselle's harness off because I was going to take her out, and she would have none of it. She ran off, grabbed her favorite tug bone and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog Linny, and I talked to the veterinarians at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael the next day, and they said, "Did anything threaten her? And I said, "No, not directly. And they said, "That's why she ran off because it was over. Nothing threatened her. Bob Ellis 53:58 Comfortable. Michael Hingson 53:59 She, they don't. Dogs don't do what if like we do, and so she was comfortable. She was happy. She wanted to play, and then then she did go out. But by the same token, the the whole point was that she was able to deal with with all of it and was able to to focus. Then we got her outside and and came back in, and she ate and and all that. But the the the thing is that she focused all day, and and she did a a wonderful job. And the reason that she focused and did so well was mainly because I worked at keeping her focus by telling her every chance I got. You're a good girl. What a good dog! Good dog. You're doing a great job. Keep going. I did that all the way down the stairs in the World Trade Center, and I was very deliberate about that because I knew she had to sense the fear and what was going on, and I wanted her to know that I was okay and I was going to be there for. Her, which is of course what teamwork and support is all about. You understand that very well. You you proved it in so many ways. I kept working with Roselle and kept her focused, and you know it all it all really went well. I still think one of the most relevant things for me in the World Trade Center. I went down the stairs with a guy named David Frank. David was from our corporate office in California, and David and I were going to be conducting sales seminars that day, teaching some resellers how to sell our products. And we got down to about the 50th floor, so David was there to talk about the the pricing and so on. I was going to do the majority of the presentation because I was going to be their technical contact, anyway, and we got to about the 50th floor, going down, and suddenly David said, "Mike, we're going to die. We're not going to make it out of here. And as I tell people, since I got a teaching credential, I had learned all about the secrets of how to yell at students. So I just said, "Stop it, David. If Roselle and I can go down these stairs, so can you. And he then immediately said that I brought him out of his spunk, and he told me that later as well. But what he told me was that he wanted to walk a floor below me on the stairs and shout up to me everything that he was seeing. He had to take his mind off of what was going on, and so he asked if I cared, and I said, "No, go ahead. That's what you need to do. That's fine. So I got like down to the 48th floor, and he yelled, "47th floor, Mike. All's clear here. Going on down. So we went down several floors that way. Eventually, I got to 45, and he was 44th floor. This is where the Port Authority cafeteria is not stopping. And the reason I mention it is because I think what David did is one of the unsung things that is so important from September 11th. He kept shouting up to me everything that he saw, but the reality is, anyone in the sound of his voice heard that there was someone who was okay going down the stairs, and he had to keep panic out of people's senses for so many individuals, because they just heard him, Mike, 43rd floor, all's good here. Going on down the stairs, all the way down the stairs. He had to have been able to keep so many people focused because he was able to keep his mind off of what was going on by shouting to me, and I think that that's so important, and so I'm. I always tell that story. I've been telling it for many years now because I want people to know what he did to keep so many people focused going down the stairs, and he had to have done that. Bob Ellis 57:31 Well, you know, I have. That's that's the first I've heard that, and and and and I read everything that I followed your story very closely, as well as the colonel who I was so close to, but there there are a couple of stories that are just never mentioned, not talked about, and one of them where we had to do every day. There was an update that the military gave the families an update as to what is happening, what was found, what was recovered, what to expect, and they would bring the kids in to listen to these brutal military briefings. I mean, just you know, these were these were soldiers, these were these were combat folks, and this is the way they briefed. And the therapy dogs were brought in, and there wasn't but about a dozen of them, and I will never forget not only the kids on the floor with the arms around those dogs, but some of the adults were as well. And I thought, what what a moment! That was the most touching moment of my entire life witnessing that. I mean, I could have done without it, but it was it was a very special moment. And then the the other thing that the world doesn't know about is on the second day, I got a I got a phone call from Secretary Rumsfeld's office that the VA was completely out of coffin flags. We had nothing in inventory to to cover the remains or the caskets for burial, and what could I do? And and right right from the Pentagon parking lot, I I called one of the buyers that bought American flags in Dallas, and then I asked her who do you get flags from, and she says it's American Flag Company. I'll give them credit for that, and and I said you need you need to get their entire inventory. We need to get it flown in, whatever expenses cover it, and get them here. The Pentagon doesn't have them, and New York doesn't have them. And those flags came in. They were they were there about that midnight that that that night. Now boxed up, thrown in the bag box, whatever tape they were bound, but everybody that came out later, you know, the recoveries as we got deeper into the debris, that had a had a flag that that came that came from us in the as well as at the Pentagon, and they put two very big special flags in there. I mean, like you see flying over a car dealer. And they hung that on the side of the Pentagon. And if you look at any of the any of the news willers of that time, it was on day two that flag was hanging that that came in with the rest of the other flags. So it was it was quite impressive. You never know what the next moment was going to bring you on you know from my side and and and can I meet the challenge? That was what I constantly worry about. How could I let any of this down? And I've got to do something. And and we were making it up as we went along. Michael Hingson 1:00:33 Yeah, that's all you could do. And so when I go back to Bob Ellis 1:00:37 to to this to this day, you know, we go back. They've got 184 markers. I don't know how many people attend it, but it's it's right in that zone, right outside the building, in that grassy area where they they they've made that memorial. And 184 people, to include I think two infants, are are memorialized there forever, which is very touching. It was a that was a hard place to go back to. Still was New York City when I went to it because I'd never I had never been 20 years 20 years yet 18 years before I ever went to to New York City to see the recovery there. I've never I've not been to the to the to the Pennsylvania field. I plan to go. I want to go. Just hadn't been convenient to get there, but but if I do that, I will have seen all all the sites. Michael Hingson 1:01:26 Yeah, I haven't been to Pennsylvania either. In 2017, I did make it to the World Trade Center Museum. In well, so we moved out of Westfield, and I moved back to California in late January, beginning of February of 2002, to work for Guide Dogs for the Blind and and speak from there. And traveled around and speak. Karen was there for a couple more months selling our home, and then she came out. But in May of 2002, Roselle was going to be honored by Hart's Mountain, the pet food and pet supply company. So, so we went back to New York, and while we were there, I met one of the police officers with with one of the service with one of the rescue dogs that that had been around the World Trade Center, and he arranged for us to get in a vehicle and drive down into the pit that was where the World Trade Center was, and they had built an artificial, well, a temporary road, and they were bringing things up, but we got to go down to what would have been the seventh sublevel, the bottom of the tower, and it was just a for me just imagining it standing in that dirt area in a hole seven stories deep and remembering what what it was like, and then in 2017 I went to the World Trade Center Museum and got to spend a little bit of time there, and of course everything had been rebuilt. The reflecting pool was there, and so on. But it was nothing like what I remembered from having been in the World Trade Center, and I walked around with someone who was able to be aware and describe what was where we were and what was above us, or what part of the building we were in as we walked through the complex. But of course, it was totally different. So it was it was such a strange feeling to experience all of that. But we did it, you know. And so now I've been to the museum, and actually there is a there's an animal exhibit in the basement, and Roselle's collar is is part of that exhibit. We donated that to oh Bob Ellis 1:03:50 really, oh really, oh God, I I was I was thinking that when I asked you that question earlier today, and I was thinking about that that has got to be remarkable, you know that that that's what touched me so much at the period. That the fact that the two of you were such a team, and I read everything that newspapers printed and watched. I guess there was some there was some CBS specials and so forth too, where you were interviewed, and it was it was just it was just absolutely amazing. Michael Hingson 1:04:21 Well, it is. you know, it is a an awe-inspiring sort of thing. And you know, people always say, you know, don't you feel guilty about surviving when so many people didn't? And and I said, no, I I didn't have any control over that. But what I do have control over is having been a survivor. What am I going to do about it? It's my responsibility to decide how I'm going to deal with moving forward after something like that. And of course, the opportunity opened to travel and speak, and so I've been doing it ever since. And I believe my job is. Is to educate people about what happened on September 11th, and let them know t
You may feel diversified while quietly becoming more dependent on the exact same sources of wealth. In this episode of 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry, I explore concentration risk from two angles that practice owners often don't connect: what's happening inside an investment portfolio and what's happening on their personal balance sheet as their practice becomes more valuable. We start with the S&P 500. Because the index is market-cap weighted, the companies that perform best naturally become larger portions of the index. Today, the largest companies represent a significantly greater share of the S&P 500 than they have historically. That doesn't make the S&P 500 a bad investment, but it does challenge the idea that simply owning VOO means you've built a complete, diversified portfolio. "VOO and chill" is an implementation strategy. It isn't an investment philosophy. The same phenomenon can happen with a successful optometry practice. You may never intentionally decide to put the majority of your net worth into one business. You simply grow a great practice. But over time, your income, distributions, enterprise value, and perhaps even your real estate can all become dependent on the same economic engine. Having a high net worth isn't necessarily the same thing as having diversified wealth. The solution isn't to stop growing the practice or abandon the S&P 500. It's to broaden the sources of your wealth. That means consistently harvesting excess cash flow from the practice and investing it outside the business while building a portfolio that captures more than just one segment of the market. We also discuss why this matters enormously when it comes time to sell your practice. The more financial independence you've created outside of the business, the less dependent you become on receiving a specific number or specific terms from the eventual sale—and the more optionality you have when navigating that transition. The Next Best Step: look underneath both sides of your balance sheet. Ask yourself how diversified your investment portfolio really is, what percentage of your family's net worth depends on the success of your practice, and whether you're intentionally becoming more diversified over time—or simply becoming more concentrated in whatever has worked recently. Have a podcast-related question? Contact our team here! Resources: Podcast: Are you building wealth, or just feeding the machine Book a Triage call with Adam Download the Practice Owner's Financial Toolkit 20/20 Money Ultimate Financial Success Masterclass OD Mastermind Interest Form Check out Adam's book: How to Buy an Optometry Practice ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!
Matt and guest host Mary Childs discuss CDS gossip, suboptimal mortgage refinancing, cheap options, shopping for savings accounts, billing by the hour, AI and the apprenticeship model, second-price auctions, chandelier bidding, the IVV to VOO pipeline, rich person trades vs. hedge fund trades and how much we all miss Katie.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Olá, seja muito bem-vindo ao StandardsCast EP #390 ALL FLEET. Neste episódio conversamos com Victor Hugo (Coordenador de Treinamento EBT) e finalizamos nossa série dedicada ao novo modelo de avaliação por competências pela metodologia EBT, onde abordamos Gerenciamento da Trajetória de Voo por Automação, Gerenciamento da Trajetória de Voo Manual, Consciência Situacional e Gerenciamento da Informação, Solução de Problemas e Tomada de Decisão e Gestão da Carga de Trabalho e seus respectivos comportamentos observáveis. Forms: https://forms.office.com/r/A23tSQXHuH Em caso de dúvidas, críticas ou sugestões, envie um e-mail para standardscast@voeazul.com.br. Este Podcast foi produzido pela Diretoria de Operações da Azul Linhas Aéreas. Em caso de divergência entre qualquer assunto técnico abordado e os documentos oficiais, os documentos prevalecerão. Todos os direitos reservados.
Today is all about ideas. Biotech is hot - healthcare is hot - energy is hot. Tech is lagging so my portfolio isn't thriving, but it's holding on thanks to crypto and gold. But I am positioning for the next leg up. FORMULA - Alpha Picks + Seeking Alpha Premium + Trendspider and Sidekick - PERFECT TOGETHER! THESE SALES END SOON: I negotiated to get 59% off and 100 Sidekick messages per month for the entire year. Plus you get my 4 hour algorithm and so many other benefits with JUST THIS LINK ONLY CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY STOCK PICK SPECIAL OFFER - ONLY ANNUAL PLANS AVAILABLE Seeking Alpha's SUMMER SALE ✅ *BEST DEAL - SEEKING ALPHA BUNDLE - Save over $150 and get Premium and Alpha Picks together - ✅ ALPHA PICKS - Want to Beat the S&P? Save $50 ✅ Seeking Alpha Premium ONLY - FREE 7 DAY TRIAL ✅SEEKING ALPHA PRO - YOUR FIRST MONTH ONLY $89 ✅ NEW - QUANT GROWTH AND INCOME PORTFOLIO - SAVE $50EPISODE SUMMARY
Send us Fan MailIn this Season 7 episode of ETF Battles, Ron DeLegge @etfguide referees an audience requested battle between QQQ, SCHG, and VOO, pitting three core equity ETFs against each other in this triple header battle. Program judges Mike Akins at ETF Action and David Kreinces at ETF Portfolio Management analyze this audience requested triple header. Each ETF is judged against the other in key categories like cost, exposure strategy, performance, yield and a mystery category. Find out who wins the battle!
The Quant Growth and Income portfolio is the latest offering from Seeking Alpha. Is it right for you? How does it compare to $QQQ and $VOO? What are the goals of the portfolio. BONUS - the Top 5 stocks that have all returned over 20% in just over a month since launch greatly outperforming the markets during this time. SPONSORED BY SEEKING ALPHA Seeking Alpha's SAVINGS! ✅ *BEST DEAL - SEEKING ALPHA BUNDLE - Save over $150 and get Premium and Alpha Picks together - ✅ ALPHA PICKS - Want to Beat the S&P? Save $50 ✅ Seeking Alpha Premium ONLY - FREE 7 DAY TRIAL ✅SEEKING ALPHA PRO - YOUR FIRST MONTH ONLY $89 ✅ NEW - QUANT GROWTH AND INCOME PORTFOLIO - SAVE $50EPISODE SUMMARY
ONLY 25 SPOTS LEFT! 3 YEAR DEAL http://www.ianinvest.comMarket Mondays is back with a full breakdown of the biggest investing conversations happening right now. We recap Invest Fest, share our biggest lessons and networking takeaways, and break down how to get friends and family off the sidelines and focused on long-term investing.We dive into Nvidia's massive $500 billion AI financing deal, Intel's $15 billion stock offering, and whether SpaceX could become the next Tesla-style trade. We also debate how much longer tech can dominate the market, why SPY and VOO remain core holdings, and which name we're choosing between Micron, DRAM, and SanDisk.Plus, we reveal our year-end S&P 500 target, explain how VIX levels influence cash deployment, discuss how much of a serious portfolio should ever be allocated to single-drug biotech stocks, and deliver the Investing Fact and Trading Tip of the Week.#MarketMondays #Investing #StockMarket #Nvidia #SpaceX #Micron #SanDisk #Intel #SP500 #VIX #ArtificialIntelligence #InvestFest #Stocks #WealthBuilding #EYLAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
OpenPunta de Mita Mexico. Pure heaven. AC/DCWorldCup Play at 0.15. Videos of foreigners talking about America. Awesome.Play Feynman at 10.29 minMarketsSCHD and VOO ATH. VGT And QQQ off ~5%. 1 year 30% SCHD, 32% VGT and 24% VOO.Leopold LeverageThe fund had gained about 270% after fees this year through May. At that point, it was up more than 1,000% after fees since inception. It had ballooned to well over $20 billion under management, reaching the size of other well-known hedge funds that took decades to build.Example: you have $1000. Borrow $1000. Buy $2000 of stocks. Stocks go down 50%. Your broke.NetflixEarnings letter. TeslaBiggest one day loss EVER. Down 14.5%. One concept keeps me calm: The US needs Tesla and its Robotics for national security. Revenue GrowthSo many changes in last 2 years. Revenue should grow steadily now: Model YL (sleeper hit), Energy, Semi, Robotaxi (finally!), Optimus (~9 months), Services (up 50% YoY). CyberTruck basic config (delivery in 2027...huge demand!Earnings Deck here. $100b annual run-rate.$28b revenue quarter. Record. 1.48m FSD subscriptions. TeraFAbThis is why we're building the largest chip manufacturing facility ever, with the goal of producing over 1 terawatt of compute per yearAILetter from companies/CEO's urging allowing Open Weights AI models. SpaceXThis tweet if off the charts” ‘https://x.com/stevederico/status/2084779469647266042Play Elon$100 billion ARR by December 2026 (they get here doing "nothing")$1 trillion in revenue as early as 2029Starship heat shield "solved"1 year payback on AI Data Center CapEXEnd of 2027 data center capacity will upwards of 5x (or more)NVIDIA exclusive chip partner for data centers on ground and spaceThey are using learnings from building rockets to build data centers, and it turns out data centers are way way way easier than rockets (means they can go extremely fast)Starlink commercial will be much bigger than consumer and Starlink should deliver most of the world's internetAI will be able to do almost anything in digital world by end of 2027V3 satellites will 10x the bandwidth and will be launched 10x as many as V2.Connectivity demand will explode due to physical AI (self driving cars/humanoid robots)PoliticsFlorida's budgetNewsom Pay to Play from WSJDave Friedberg on CA Tax. Billionaire TaxHoover Institute VideoPodcasts Really enjoyed Tim Robins on spotify. Advice: Never give up. Just show up. Everyone gets a job. Be AI literate.I don't think its hard to be successful in America. Hard = show up everyday, care about your job and your duty. That'st it. Great Coscto example here
Thorin, Mauisnake, and Voo run the good, the bad, and the ugly of BLAST Bounty, from MOUZ's shock grand final run to Donk's worrying drop-off. Huel: Limited Time Offer – Make healthy eating simple. Get Huel today with our exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with our code LFN at huel.com/LFN. New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! Hims: Access an affordable range of FDA-approved GLP-1 weight loss medications, including the Wegovy pill and pen, with support to lose up to 20% of your body weight combined with diet and exercise. Get a personalized plan at https://hims.com/snakebanter (weight loss by Hims is not available in all 50 states) LFN Premium: Submit fan topics through private Discord channels, go ad-free across every LFN show, and directly support Snake & Banter. Just $9/month at https://www.lastfreenation.com Livetrade on CS today on Polymarket: https://polymarket.com/?via=lastfreenation-eeux Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This week, we're bringing you an episode of WSJ's Take On the Week. Host Telis Demos and guest host Spencer Jakab, investing columnist and writer of the Markets A.M. newsletter, are joined by Kaitlin Hendrix, asset allocation research director at Dimensional Fund Advisors, to decode investors' surging interest in private markets. They break down how investors may already have exposure in their investment portfolios to private companies like Anthropic, Stripe and Flipkart, through holdings in companies like Alphabet's Google, Amazon and Nvidia. Hendrix explains why your public index fund might already provide the diversification you're looking for, without the high fees. Plus, Jakab explains the way that big tech's private company investments are boosting earnings to near-unprecedented levels. To watch the video version of this episode, visit our WSJ Podcasts YouTube channel or the video page of WSJ.com Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Further Reading: Earnings Forecasts Are on Steroids For more coverage of the markets and your investments, head to WSJ.com, WSJ's Heard on The Street Column, and WSJ's Live Markets blog. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
We review some of 2026's top growth ideas, top income ideas and a wild new price target on SpaceX shares. We also cover the top performing sectors year-to-date in the S&P 500 and list the best corresponding ETFs from each sector.
Esta semana navegamos até às águas profundas no filme ‘Deep Water'. Será que este filme nos conquistou ou despenhou-se? Neste episódio, falamos de notícias, o que andamos a ver, fazemos a review do filme 'Deep Water' e terminamos com spoilers.NOTÍCIASLázaro fala sobre o falecimento de Kaylee Hottle (URL), um update dos BAFTA sobre IA (URL), um projeto de Ridley Scott (URL) e uma mudança da France's National Film Board (URL);Luís fala sobre um reboot nas ruas de Elm Street (URL) e um remake de ‘Robocop' (URL);Erick fala sobre o sucesso de ‘Toy Story 5' (URL), o regresso de Black Panther (URL), um novo desafio para Ryan Gosling (URL), a data do próximo projeto de Robert Pattinson (URL), o nome e data de estreia do filme de ‘Ali G' (URL), a nova biopic de Snoop Dogg (URL) e o final das filmagens dum projeto promissor da Netflix (URL).O QUE ANDAMOS A VER?LázaroThe Foot Fist Way (2006)O Sequestro do Voo 375 (2023)Swapped (2026)LuísRunning Point (2ª Temporada)Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)Night Swim (2024)Hungry (2026)ErickThe Undeclared War (2ª temporada)The Agency (2ª Temporada)Elite Force (1ª Temporada)72 Hours (2026)Para a semana vamos fazer review do filme 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day'.Até lá, bons filmes.**Música Original produzida por António Capelo (https://capelo.me)Sigam-nos em:https://twitter.com/peliculapodcasthttps://instagram.com/peliculapodcasthttps://facebook.com/peliculapodcast
In this week's episode of WSJ's Take On the Week, host Telis Demos and guest host Spencer Jakab, the Wall Street Journal's investing columnist and writer of the Markets A.M. newsletter, are joined by Kaitlin Hendrix, asset allocation research director at global investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, to decode investors' surging interest in private markets. They break down how investors may already have exposure in their investment portfolios to private companies like Anthropic, Stripe and Flipkart, through holdings in companies like Alphabet's Google, Amazon and Nvidia. Hendrix explains why your public index fund might already provide the diversification you're looking for, without the high fees. Plus, Jakab explains the way that big tech's private company investments are boosting earnings to near-unprecedented levels. This is WSJ's Take On the Week where co-hosts Telis Demos, writer for WSJ's Heard on the Street, and Miriam Gottfried, WSJ's investing and wealth management reporter, cut through the noise and dive into markets, the economy and finance—the big trades, key players and business news ahead. Have an idea for a future guest or episode? How can we better help you take on the week? We'd love to hear from you. Email the show at takeontheweek@wsj.com. To watch the video version of this episode, visit our WSJ Podcasts YouTube channel or the video page of WSJ.com Further Reading Earnings Forecasts Are on Steroids For more coverage of the markets and your investments, head to WSJ.com, WSJ's Heard on The Street Column, and WSJ's Live Markets blog. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter, written by our guest host: Spencer Jakab. Follow Miriam Gottfried here and Telis Demos here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this episode of The Canadian Investor Podcast, we break down which types of investments may be best suited for different Canadian accounts, including TFSAs, RRSPs, FHSAs, RESPs and taxable accounts. We look at Canadian stocks, U.S. stocks, Canadian-listed ETFs, U.S.-listed ETFs and international ETFs, with a focus on tax efficiency, dividend treatment, withholding taxes and capital gains. We also discuss why the “right” account can depend on the type of income an investment produces, whether dividends are Canadian or foreign, and how ETF structure can create different withholding tax outcomes for Canadian investors. In the second half of the episode, we look at four Canadian acquisition-heavy compounders that have struggled recently: Constellation Software, WSP Global, Boyd Group Services and TerraVest. We discuss why each company has been under pressure, including valuation resets, AI disruption fears, macro headwinds, governance concerns and slower end-market demand. We also look at what could drive a recovery for each business. Tickers discussed: CSU.TO, WSP.TO, BYD.TO, TVK.TO, VOO, VFV.TO, QQQ, ASML Subscribe to our Our New Youtube Channel! Check out our portfolio by going to Jointci.com Our Website Our New Youtube Channel! Canadian Investor Podcast Network Twitter: @cdn_investing Simon’s twitter: @Fiat_Iceberg Braden’s twitter: @BradoCapital Dan’s Twitter: @stocktrades_ca Want to learn more about Real Estate Investing? Check out the Canadian Real Estate Investor Podcast! Apple Podcast - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Spotify - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Web player - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Asset Allocation ETFs | BMO Global Asset Management Sign up for Fiscal.ai for free to get easy access to global stock coverage and powerful AI investing tools. Register for EQ Bank, the seamless digital banking experience with better rates and no nonsense.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
L'opérateur téléphonique Orange va déménager son siège social de Bruxelles vers la périphérie de la Capitale. En Flandre donc, pour celui qui vient de racheter l'opérateur wallon VOO. Tous les contrats devront être rédigés en flamand… Le ministre fédéral de la Transition, Jean-Luc Crucke lance un appel à projets pour favoriser l'économie circulaire dans quatre secteurs d'activités: la construction, le textile, l’emballage et les équipements électriques et électroniques. Une nouvelle enseigne débarque dans le secteur du bricolage en Belgique, avec de très grandes surfaces et de gros volumes. De quoi bousculer un segment de la distribution déjà très encombré. Le Brief, le podcast matinal de L'Echo Ce que vous devez savoir avant de démarrer la journée, on vous le sert au creux de l’oreille, chaque matin, en 7 infos, dès 7h. Le Brief, un podcast éclairant, avec l’essentiel de l’info business, entreprendre, investir et politique. Signé L’Echo. Abonnez-vous sur votre plateforme d'écoute favorite Apple Podcast | Spotify | Podcast Addict l Castbox | Deezer | Google PodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode of The Canadian Investor Podcast, we break down Rogers’ move to take full control of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and what it says about the rising value of professional sports franchises. We look at how Rogers’ sports assets compare to the company’s overall market value, why scarce live-sports assets continue to attract premium valuations, and how NHL, NBA, MLB and NFL franchise values have grown over the last decade. We then shift to the S&P 500 and the growing debate around equal-weight versus market-cap-weighted ETFs. With the top holdings now making up a large share of the index, we discuss whether investors are still getting the diversification they expect, why AI-related concentration has become such a major factor, and how equal-weight ETFs can act as a defensive hedge while still keeping broad U.S. market exposure. Tickers discussed: RCI.B.TO, BCE.TO, RSP, EQL.TO, EQL.F.TO, VOO, ZSP.TO, MSFT, MU, TSLA, WMT, BRK.B, LLY, JPM Subscribe to our Our New Youtube Channel! Check out our portfolio by going to Jointci.com Our Website Our New Youtube Channel! Canadian Investor Podcast Network Twitter: @cdn_investing Simon’s twitter: @Fiat_Iceberg Braden’s twitter: @BradoCapital Dan’s Twitter: @stocktrades_ca Want to learn more about Real Estate Investing? Check out the Canadian Real Estate Investor Podcast! Apple Podcast - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Spotify - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Web player - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Asset Allocation ETFs | BMO Global Asset Management Sign up for Fiscal.ai for free to get easy access to global stock coverage and powerful AI investing tools. Register for EQ Bank, the seamless digital banking experience with better rates and no nonsense. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode we answer emails from I Have No Name, Shellie, Midwest Nice, and Mr. Ed (a motley crew indeed!). We discuss some massively funny generosity to our Top of the T-Shirt Campaign for the Father McKenna Center, an odd small cap value fund in a 401(k) and the issues surrounding holding too much cash, how stocks and long-term treasury bonds can both rise while still showing negative correlation and how that relates to the Four Quadrant Model, and redeploying proceeds from the sale of real estate. And lutefisk.And THEN we our go through our weekly portfolio reviews of the eight sample portfolios you can find at Portfolios | Risk Parity Radio.Links:Father McKenna Center Donation Page (please mention Risk Parity Radio in the comment section with your donation): Donate - Father McKenna CenterPMJAX at Morningstar: PMJAX – Portfolio – PIMCO RAE US Small A | MorningstarPMJAX Comparison: Asset Analyzer for ETFs, Stocks, and Funds | testfolioPortfolios With More and Less Cash Comparison: Portfolio Backtester for ETFs and Asset Allocation | testfolioS&P500 and LT Treasury Bond Comparison: Asset Analyzer for ETFs, Stocks, and Funds | testfolioThe Four Quadrant Model Exquisitely Explained With Illustrations Inspired By Vermeer: The Four Quadrant Wealth Atlas.pdf - Google DriveFour Quadrant Model Video: Understanding Correlations and Diversification Using the Four Quadrant ModelBreathless Unedited AI-Bot Summary:A listener spots a new “small cap value” option in a 401(k) and asks the question most DIY investors eventually face: how do you tell what a fund really is when the plan uses a custom name and no ticker? We walk through a practical, repeatable research process using an AI chatbot (Gemini or ChatGPT) to find the closest public equivalent, then confirming style exposure and performance on Morningstar and Testfol.io. Along the way we discuss what “micro” exposure can mean, why “perfect” isn't required inside a restrictive plan, and how you can still build a solid risk parity-style asset allocation with the tools you have.Then we tackle the comfort blanket that can quietly cost you money: cash. We explain cash drag, why holding 25% in cash can act like you're not investing a quarter of your portfolio, and why bucket strategies don't magically solve sequence of returns risk just by relabeling accounts. We also dig into tax-efficient investing and asset location, including why taxable cash interest can be brutal in retirement and when it may make sense to reposition assets between taxable and retirement accounts.A father writes in with his son's surprisingly sharp question about bond stock correlation: if stocks go up over time and long-term Treasury bonds are negatively correlated, do bonds usually go down? We answer with long-run data, show why both can rise while still diversifying each other, and point to specific regimes like 2000 to 2010 versus 2022. We also field a real-world planning scenario on investing property sale proceeds while keeping ACA premium tax credits in mind by managing MAGI, before wrapping with our weekly portfolio review across the eight sample portfolios (VOO, QQQ, VIOV, GLDM, VGLT, PDBC, PFFB/PFFV, DBMF and more).Subscribe for more practical risk parity investing guidance, share this with a friend who's stuck in a confusing 401(k), and leave a rating and review so more DIY investors can find us.Support the show
Tom's on vacation, but the listener questions are not. In this packed Q&A episode, Don tackles one of the most common retirement dilemmas: if your Social Security and annuity income already cover your expenses, do you still need a traditional emergency fund?From there, the questions keep coming. Don weighs in on what to do with “lazy money” earning only 3%, whether a MYGA is really a better deal than a CD ladder, how to structure a taxable brokerage account for long-term growth, and where to keep nearly $300,000 set aside for a home purchase in the next two to three years.He also takes on a thoughtful question about managing a taxable portfolio for elderly in-laws who need additional income for memory care, and wraps up with a step-by-step explanation of how inherited IRA money can potentially be used to fund backdoor Roth contributions.Along the way, you'll hear why “guaranteed” doesn't always mean what insurance companies want you to think it means, why simplicity often beats ETF overengineering, and why liquidity still matters—even in retirement.0:05 – Intro and why Tom is getting buried in listener questions while on vacation1:14 – Don thanks listeners and mentions Apple featuring Litreading1:58 – How to send recorded questions at TalkingRealMoney.com2:16 – Question 1: Do retired investors still need a six-month emergency fund if Social Security and annuities cover expenses?3:14 – Why Don still favors stable, liquid emergency money even in retirement4:30 – Question 2: What should retirees do with “lazy money” that's earning only about 3%?5:28 – Don's preference for CD ladders over MYGAs and why “guaranteed” doesn't mean risk-free7:33 – Question 3: How should a high-income investor build a long-term taxable portfolio at Vanguard?10:03 – Don's case for simplifying with AVGE or DFAW instead of mixing multiple ETFs11:24 – Question 4: Is a five-year MYGA better than a five-year CD ladder?12:01 – Why Don still leans toward CDs despite the higher MYGA yield and tax deferral pitch14:16 – Question 5: Best place to keep $291,000 earmarked for a home purchase in two to three years14:46 – Money market vs. high-yield savings vs. CDs vs. BND for short-term house money17:04 – Question 6: How to structure a $300,000 taxable portfolio for elderly in-laws who need extra monthly income for memory care18:37 – Why Don would keep lots of liquidity, use only a little equity, and skip muni bonds in a 22% bracket20:50 – Question 7: Can inherited IRA proceeds be used to fund a backdoor Roth for both spouses?22:40 – Don's step-by-step answer, including opening new IRAs and watching out for the pro-rata rule25:07 – Don plugs The Line Uncrossed and offers a free one-hour advisor meeting25:42 – Reminder to send questions and be patient while Tom is on vacationQuestions? Comments? Click!
Don and Tom take apart a clickbait Kiplinger piece touting the “five top buy-and-hold investments to manage market volatility,” arguing that the list is a random grab-bag of recent winners rather than a coherent portfolio. They explain why the suggested mix—VOO, VXUS, a healthcare sector ETF, Apple stock, and gold—does little to reduce volatility and instead layers on concentration risk, sector bets, and performance chasing. From there, they broaden the discussion into a more useful question: where should investors actually go for trustworthy information, how should listeners think about evaluating a financial advisor, and what really matters when judging portfolio design. The back half of the episode features a thoughtful call about investing a spendthrift trust for two sons over a 12-year horizon, plus a warning that advisor performance can't be measured by returns alone without understanding risk, asset allocation, and the planning services being delivered.0:05 Cold open, podcast intros, and Tom's ever-growing aircraft museum1:40 Don tees up a Kiplinger clickbait article on the “five top buy-and-hold investments” for market volatility2:14 Why the article's opening about political uncertainty and inflation could apply to almost any year3:36 The one part they agree with: long-term wealth is built by disciplined exposure to quality assets, not reacting to headlines4:53 The rise of numbered clickbait headlines and whether numbers in titles actually matter5:53 Why “stability” and “stock picks” don't belong in the same sentence6:27 Kiplinger pick #1: VOO — fine as a broad U.S. stock fund, but hardly a volatility solution7:06 Kiplinger pick #2: VXUS — the one recommendation they think mostly holds up8:21 Kiplinger pick #3: XLV healthcare ETF — a sector bet masquerading as a defensive holding9:33 Why a healthcare sector fund lags a total-world approach while adding unnecessary concentration10:28 Kiplinger pick #4: Apple stock — and why adding a single stock you already own inside the S&P 500 makes little sense10:59 The problem with betting on one company instead of owning the economy through broad diversification12:20 Kiplinger pick #5: gold — and why recent gains don't make it a volatility manager12:48 Gold's long-term history, lack of fundamentals, and why its recent performance actually illustrates volatility rather than reducing it14:12 The bigger issue: how do you decide which financial publications or sources are worth trusting?15:26 Why Vanguard and Dimensional research tend to be more reliable than headline-driven finance content16:35 The real reason people click these articles: fear, underperformance anxiety, and the urge to “improve” a portfolio17:23 Why the Kiplinger portfolio is missing the one thing you'd expect in a true volatility-management portfolio: bonds18:51 Don and Tom's plea to listeners: follow evidence-based advice rather than clickbait lists19:30 Listener call from Brian in Bremerton about investing spendthrift trusts for his sons over a 12-year horizon20:55 The challenge: balancing growth with the possibility of distributions for education, cars, weddings, or a house23:08 Don's suggested framework: keep a cash/fixed-income reserve for near-term needs and invest the rest aggressively for growth24:48 Why a target-date fund may not be the best fit for this kind of trust structure25:37 A practical allocation idea: roughly 80/20 with a global equity fund plus a broad bond fund26:51 Brian explains that Roth IRA funding is already part of the family's gifting and estate strategy27:32 A listener from Seoul praises the show and begs them not to turn into a “humblebrag retirement call-in show”29:49 Listener question: how do you measure whether your financial advisor is performing well?30:42 Why advisor performance should not be judged by returns alone32:11 The importance of understanding what services you're actually paying for: planning, rebalancing, tax guidance, income strategy, and more33:11 What to examine in a portfolio besides returns: risk level, asset allocation, and whether key asset classes are missing34:11 Why even benchmark comparisons can be misleading if the portfolio isn't properly diversified35:18 The better question: is your advisor delivering the services and portfolio design you actually need?Questions? Comments? Click!
At 21, Cody Berman appeared on ChooseFI as a college student discovering financial independence. Three years later, he retired at 26. Now 30 with a $5 million net worth, he's back to reveal exactly how he compressed a decades-long journey into a three-year sprint—and why the same principles work whether you're 25 or 55. The Journey from 22 to FI at 26 00:05:30 Cody's path to financial independence was methodical and aggressive. Between ages 22 and 25, he experimented with over 20 side hustles, scaling his income from $96K to more than $400K annually. The key? He kept expenses locked at just $24K per year—creating a massive gap of $625K over three years. That gap fueled three wealth-building engines: $500K in stock market investments (VOO, VTSAX, VTI) 13 rental properties generating $3,700/month in passive income Digital products businesses producing $10K/month By his 26th birthday, Cody had achieved "cashflow FI"—his passive income streams covered living expenses without touching his investment portfolio. The Psychology of Financial Independence 00:18:00 Brad and Cody explore why some people achieve FI while others with similar incomes stay stuck. The answer isn't math—it's psychology and awareness. Cody attributes his success to having a clear destination. When you know exactly where you're going and why it matters, spending $100 on something that doesn't serve that destination becomes harder than saying no. The infamous "second marshmallow" experiment demonstrates this: delaying gratification becomes easier when you're aware of what you're trading for. As Cody puts it: "Earn more, spend less, invest the gap. Very simple. That is financial independence in a nutshell." Passive Income Reality Check 00:28:00 Let's demolish the myth of truly passive income. Cody manages 13 rental properties—but spends just 4-5 hours per month on them. This represents the spectrum of passive income: not zero effort, but minimal effort relative to the returns. The secret? Working in seasons rather than constant hustle mode. Some months require more attention (tenant turnover, maintenance issues), while others are nearly hands-off. Cody's businesses also follow this pattern—periods of intense development followed by relative autopilot. Brad reinforces this with math: "Every $100 a month you can cut out of your budget is $30,000 less you need in your FI number." Over 20 years, that $100/month compounds to $60K invested. That's a $90K swing from a single optimization. Designing the Perfect Tuesday 00:42:00 Forget exotic vacations—FI is about winning on a random Tuesday. Cody and Lauren's ideal weekday reveals what financial independence actually looks like: Morning: Wake naturally, coffee together, workout (him: gym; her: Pilates), shower, work on creative projects they enjoy Midday: Lunch together, afternoon walk in their neighborhood, separate time for individual pursuits Evening: Dinner together, reading, quality time before bed Nothing dramatic. No yachts. Just complete autonomy over every hour of a normal day. They maintain this through monthly alignment meetings—typically at a restaurant over a nice meal—covering: Money and real estate Health and fitness Travel plans Relationships (with a safe space to address concerns) Friends and family A rotating category Goals for the next month They also record an annual video reviewing the year, creating a time capsule of their journey. Post-FI Life and the Book 00:58:00 What actually happens when you achieve FI? Cody shares the uncomfortable truth: "Anything that you say that you want to do and that you don't do is a Cody problem. Before FI, you can blame things on time. You can blame things on money." When those excuses disappear, you're left facing yourself. That can be liberating and terrifying. His new book, Retire by Thirty, addresses this and more. Like Tim Ferriss's The Four Hour Workweek, the title is provocative but the principles are universal. Whether you compress your FI journey from 50-55, 33…
So I kept hearing about this ETF called OVL — it's beaten the S&P 500 since 2019, and now it pays you over 10% a year in monthly checks. Sounded like a cheat code, so I popped the hood. In this one, I break down what's actually inside OVL (spoiler: it's basically VOO), how it uses options to juice that yield, where that 10% monthly payout really comes from, why the fee is 26x higher than VOO, what "return of capital" actually means for your taxes, and who it's really a good fit for. If you've ever wondered whether OVL beats just buying VOO, this'll save you the homework. Educational only — not investment advice. [Link to YouTube Video]Find out more about OVL from the horse's mouth HERE Warren Buffett's 2012 Annual Shareholder LetterSpecial Offer - One FREE Month of Simply Safe Dividends... no credit card required! Click HERE!
Dr. Lorenzo Tomé apresenta o segundo pilar da estruturação do negócio médico: o marketing. Não o marketing de produto, de volume e de agência terceirizada — mas o marketing de posicionamento, que constrói autoridade, atrai o paciente certo e reduz o esforço de venda ao longo do tempo. O episódio parte de um diagnóstico preciso: o médico ético já sabe que precisa de marketing, mas não está convencido de como fazer. Resultado? Voo de galinha. Posts genéricos. Agências que entregam volume sem estratégia. Presença em cinco redes sem profundidade em nenhuma. E no fim, muito esforço sem posicionamento construído. A partir daí, Lorenzo aprofunda o conceito de persona, território de marca e autoridade — e mostra por que clareza de posicionamento não é limitação de mercado, é amplificação de relevância. O episódio também traz o paralelo com o filme O Diabo Veste Prada 2: o médico que entende onde está sua força, estrutura o marketing em torno dela e para de tentar competir no jogo errado. Se você sente que faz marketing mas não sabe se está indo na direção certa, esse episódio reorganiza o raciocínio do zero. O background do Dr. Lorenzo Tomé Lorenzo Tomé é médico, fundador e CEO da SD Escola de Negócios Médicos — escola especializada em estruturação de modelos de negócio para médicos com ética, método e previsibilidade. Com mais de 500 médicos capacitados, desenvolveu uma metodologia própria baseada em receita recorrente por acompanhamento longitudinal, que combina gestão, marketing, vendas, finanças e tecnologia aplicados à prática clínica. Atua como mentor direto de médicos em diferentes especialidades, ajudando-os a construir negócios sustentáveis, escaláveis e alinhados com o propósito de cuidar. Aplique para a Sessão Estratégica com o time SD Escola Entre na Comunidade SD no WhatsApp e tenha conteúdo gratuito todos os dias sobre negócios médicos. Assista esse episódio também em vídeo no Youtube no nosso canal Saúde Digital Podcast! Acesse os episódios anteriores! SD361 - Quando o seu principal serviço perde mercado: como estruturar um novo modelo antes que seja tarde SD360 - Bati no teto da minha carreira. E agora? SD359 - Da consulta avulsa ao acompanhamento longitudinal: o papel da Medicina de Estilo de Vida na sua receita Música: Declan DP - We Are Here Music © Copyright Declan DP 2018 - Present. https://license.declandp.info | License ID: DDP1590665
市場大跌不是重點,重點是你的財務結構和心,能不能穩住。 這一集,我想陪大家聊聊最近市場劇烈震盪下,很多投資人心裡真正浮現的焦慮。 費半重挫、科技股下跌、台股可能回檔,對剛進場的新手投資人來說, 最容易出現的感覺就是:「我是不是買錯了?」、「現在要不要賣?」、「是不是要趕快加碼?」 但投資真正困難的地方,從來不是市場會不會跌,而是當市場下跌時, 你有沒有足夠的現金流、安全網和投資紀律,讓自己不用被恐慌推著走。 最近才進場的人,為什麼買了就跌會特別焦慮? 費半重挫背後,投資人真正該看的不是新聞標題,而是自己的資產配置。 融資投資和貸款投資,什麼情況下會變成危險訊號? 市場下跌時,為什麼不要一次 all in,也不要恐慌賣出,而是用分批進場守住節奏? 股息再投入為什麼是資產累積期很重要的複利關鍵? 當股市獲利超過預期時,為什麼可以思考把一部分資金轉向房地產或其他資產,讓家庭財務結構更穩? ❰ 家庭理財必修課 ❱ 線上課及 ❰ 60天記帳陪跑 ❱ 一對一教練服務 6/22前購買, 就可以上線收聽學員專屬免費直播 老屋改造五倍獲利 講者 邱愛莉老師 錄製課9小時、共11大主題、68單元 定期線上共學,從疑難中學習 專屬學習群,50+家庭財務規劃師學姊答疑 17+實用管理表單 專屬教練一對一陪跑60天,跟著系統方法,存款成長看得見! 輸入折扣碼《 sandytwo520 》 再折520元 https://course.mompower.cc/courses/savemoney2024 ----以下為 SoundOn 動態廣告---- 即日起至6月底, 透過台南住商不動產買房, 就有機會參加【買屋抽黃金】活動, 幸運得主將於7月公開抽出✨ 把成家的重要時刻, 變成雙倍黃金祝福。 台南住商不動產, 不只陪你安心成家, 還讓黃金一起到家! 馬上預約看房 https://sofm.pse.is/974gv4 -- Hosting provided by SoundOn
Bom dia Tech! Tudo bem? Meu nome é Arthur Givigir e hoje é terça-feira, dia 02 de junho de 2026 e trago para vc as principais notícias de tecnologia, vamos lá?Quer patrocinar ou fazer uma parceria com o Bom dia Tech? Mande um e-mail para contato@bomdia.teche vamos conversar!Apoio03:48: Promoções do 6.6 da Amazon - Diversos ProdutosNotícias00:00: ☀️ Bom dia Tech!00:23: Voo da United retorna após alerta causado por nome de dispositivo Bluetooth01:22: Google abrirá sua primeira loja física fora dos Estados Unidos em Tóquio02:29: Tela Brasil estreia como streaming gratuito do governo com filmes nacionais04:22: Apple TV 4K e HomePod mini devem ganhar novos chips com chegada da nova Siri05:32: Dell lança rival do MacBook Neo e Nvidia prepara novo chip para enfrentar Apple Silicon06:27: Nvidia RTX Spark marca entrada da empresa no mercado de chips completos para PCs07:44: Inté a próxima!Produtos do EpisódioNintendo Switch OLEDBundle Nintendo Switch OLED com Mario Kart 8PlayStation 5 SlimPlayStation DualSenseXbox Series S (Mercado Livre)PlayStation 5 (Mercado Livre)Samsung Galaxy S24Samsung Galaxy S24 UltraApple iPhone 16 (128 GB)Apple iPhone 15 (128 GB)Apple iPhone 14 (128 GB)Apple iPhone 14 Plus (128 GB)Kindle ScribeComprando por esses links, o Bom dia Tech recebe uma pequena comissão e você ajuda no crescimento do podcast.Redes sociais:InstagramThreadsMastodonCapa:Capa: Nvidia
Lighter NoteIts texts like the “stolen Trackman" that keep me coming back to X. The comments are just
Send us Fan MailIn this Season 7 episode of ETF Battles, Ron DeLegge @etfguide referees an audience requested battle between VOO and SGOV, asking if it's better for the next two years to keep your portfolio in equity or bonds. ETF Battles is sponsored by DirexionDirexion Daily Leveraged & Inverse ETFs.Know the risks.Trade Boldly.Visit Direxion.com https://www.direxion.com/product/dail...Program judges Mike Akins at ETF Action, and Tony Dong, an independent ETF analyst, examine this ETF battle between VOO, (Vanguard), and SGOV (iShares). Each ETF is judged against the other in key categories like cost, exposure strategy, performance, yield and a mystery category. Find out who wins the battle!#equity #bonds #ETF
O podcast 'Isso é Fantástico' traz, nesta edição, a íntegra da entrevista que Renata Capucci fez com Xuxa Meneghel. Aos 63 anos, a Rainha dos Baixinhos fala sobre legado, sonhos e revisita mais de 40 anos de carreira, além de revelar bastidores inéditos da turnê O Último Voo da Nave, que promete emocionar fãs no Brasil e em outros países.
Two years ago, I built my own twist on Joel Greenblatt's Magic Formula investing strategy. I called it the Dividend Magic Formula — I screened MagicFormulaInvesting.com for dividend-paying stocks, ranked them by 5-year Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), and bought the top 10. Did it beat the S&P 500 again in year two? In this video, I share the full results of my $1,000 hypothetical portfolio test, the three big downsides of running this strategy (taxes, fighting compounding, and how close year two really was), and whether I'm about to put real money into it. If you're into dividend investing, value investing, or just curious whether a simple formula can beat VOO, this one's for you. [Link to YouTube Video]Dividend Channel DRIP Returns Calculator: Dapper Dividends Recommendation Tracker SpreadsheetCheck out my current portfolio on
Paul sits down with Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls for the first Q&A session in months — and this one is built around the questions readers and listeners ask most often. Chris and Daryl share what they're working on next (Best-in-Class ETF updates, Target Date Fund work, telltale charts, risk-adjusted return analysis), Paul talks about a smarter way to use AI for the questions outside our wheelhouse, and the team works through six reader questions about portfolio design — from combining model portfolios to choosing between fund families.If you've ever wondered whether your portfolio is "right," this conversation will help you think about it the way Chris and Daryl do.8:30 — Should I combine the Worldwide Four Fund, U.S. Four Fund, and Worldwide All Value with a small cap value tilt?16:00 — How do I read the Sound Investing tables to compare portfolios?30:30 — Worldwide All Small Cap Value vs. the U.S. Two Fund — which is better?38:15 — My Vanguard Four Fund uses VOO, VTV, VB, and VBR — am I using the right ETFs?41:30 — How do Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, DFA, and Avantis compare on size and value exposure?46:30 — How do I get help with Merriman portfolios when I need it?Table B2 Table H2 Fine Tuning Tables Portfolio ConfiguratorYou'll get the full answers, the data behind them, and Chris and Daryl's reasoning by watching or listening.Watch the video here- https://youtu.be/BdTNOkALpuQ
In this episode, Simon and Dan break down 10 common mistakes Canadian investors make, from treating the TFSA like a basic savings account to overconcentrating in Canadian stocks and real estate. They discuss why home-country bias can quietly increase portfolio risk, when CDRs and Canadian-listed U.S. ETFs may or may not make sense, and how withholding taxes, currency conversion, and account type can affect returns. They also dig into the psychology of chasing yield, the danger of focusing too much on dividends instead of total returns, and why high-fee funds should be judged on performance net of fees rather than fees alone. The episode wraps with a look at analyst price targets, investor pitch decks, and why relying too heavily on management presentations can lead investors to miss major red flags. Tickers of Stocks Discussed: V, RY, AAPL, GOOGL, AMZN, SHOP, CLS, CSU, FTS, VFV, VOO, BCE, MSTR, MSTY, ZLB, XIC, GSY, LSPD, WEED, CM. Subscribe to our Our New Youtube Channel! Check out our portfolio by going to Jointci.com Our Website Our New Youtube Channel! Canadian Investor Podcast Network Twitter: @cdn_investing Simon’s twitter: @Fiat_Iceberg Braden’s twitter: @BradoCapital Dan’s Twitter: @stocktrades_ca Want to learn more about Real Estate Investing? Check out the Canadian Real Estate Investor Podcast! Apple Podcast - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Spotify - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Web player - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Asset Allocation ETFs | BMO Global Asset Management Sign up for Fiscal.ai for free to get easy access to global stock coverage and powerful AI investing tools. Register for EQ Bank, the seamless digital banking experience with better rates and no nonsense.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We discuss retirement investing, buffer ETFs, and inflation hedges. (1:00) - What Retirement Account Works Best For You? (5:40) - Should You Consider A Roth IRA Conversion? (8:50) - Do Buffer ETFs Fit Into Your Portfolio Right Now? (11:30) - Should You Be Using TIPS ETFs To Protect From Inflation? (14:40) - Is Now a good Time To Invest In Commodities? (16:30) - Should You Be Investing Into Municipal Bonds or High Yield Bond ETFs? (21:20) - Breaking Down The Current State of The AI Trade Right Now (23:20) - Episode Roundup: SPYM, VOO, IVV, VIG, DGRO, PDBC, MUB Podcast@Zacks.com
When to buy and sell is always the question. When to buy is easy for me. When I see the fundamentals, technicals and market action show me that a buy will outperform the market. That's my goal - here's a complete set of what to look for. Get my FREE newsletter or sign up for the paid version with benefits like the Office Hours and tracking the portfolios in Savvy Trader https://dailystockpick.substack.com/THESE SALES END SOON: TRENDSPIDER - get my 4 hour algorithm on any annual plan - DON'T WAIT - THIS IS A GREAT SALE Seeking Alpha's Tool kit *BEST DEAL - SEEKING ALPHA BUNDLE - Save over $150 and get Premium and Alpha Picks together ALPHA PICKS - Want to Beat the S&P? Save $50 Seeking Alpha Premium - FREE 7 DAY TRIAL SEEKING ALPHA PRO - TRY IT FOR A MONTH FOR ONLY $89 EPISODE SUMMARY
GolfShot a 100!!MastersCameron on Church and FamilyMarketsSTAY IN the MaRKETVGT 59%, QQQ 48% and VOO 35%NetflixLet's hear from Ted on ReedOpen AI Lawsuit coming. How did they convert a non-profit to a For-Profit? Tesla EV sales in the US Qg1 2026Tesla's total across all its models (Model Y, Model 3, Cybertruck, Model X, and Model S) is 117,300 vehicles.This represents 55.43% of the overall total of 211,609 vehicles in the list.Tesla dominated this dataset, accounting for more than half of all the EVs combined.LidarElon on LidarSemiPlay at 4:28. Discussion of moving vertically as it hangs from the ceiling moving the Body of the Semi around. ‘Would love to see Peterbuilt and Freightliner execs watching this video. STd range 325Long rane 500Building supercharge network only for trucks!FSD EuropeTesla official X announcement. FSD Supervised has been approved in the Netherlands & will begin rolling out in the country shortly! SpaceX Good video here. 10,000+ satellites.9m paid Starlink subscribersStarlink was $10-12b in 2025. Revenue total $15-16b.Fraud 267m in Fraud. 5 arrested. 21 charged.
This is one of my most complete and best episodes. Celebrating the 100% gain in Alpha Picks over 1 year from today. Plus what stocks I'm buying - the complete list of former Alpha Pick stocks and what sectors are the hot ones now. Taco Trade is still in effect
⚡ Chegou no nível 5 e a magia começou a ficar séria no D&D 5.5e (2024)? Do clássico "Voo" à icônica "Velocidade", as magias de 3º e 4º círculo mudam completamente o rumo de qualquer combate. Com a chegada do sistema 5.5e, os usos táticos dessas magias ficaram ainda mais dinâmicos e o grupo todo sente a diferença quando o conjurador sabe o que faz! Qual dessas magias da lista não pode faltar de jeito nenhum no seu grimório? Comente no post
Huge week for $NVDA and $MU.2 new Trendspider scanners and why I'm bullish on $MU heading in to earnings. What's my plan? Get up to 52 ZOOM one on one training sessions with a Trendspider Product Expert when you sign up for an annual plan. LIMITED TIME OFFER. BONUS OFFER - FREE MONTH OF SIDEKICK BASIC Get my FREE newsletter or sign up for the paid version with benefits like the Office Hours and tracking the portfolios in Savvy Trader https://dailystockpick.substack.com/THESE SALES END SOON: TRENDSPIDER - get any annual plan and I'll send you my 4 hour algorithm plus HUGE POT OF GOLD SAVINGS this weekend ONLY. Seeking Alpha's Tool kit *BEST DEAL - SEEKING ALPHA BUNDLE - Save over $150 and get Premium and Alpha Picks together ALPHA PICKS - Want to Beat the S&P? Save $50 Seeking Alpha Premium - FREE 7 DAY TRIAL SEEKING ALPHA PRO - TRY IT FOR A MONTH FOR ONLY $89 EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Money & Meaning, Jeff Bernier reflects on a recent client conversation sparked by a Wall Street Journal article about an AI “tsunami.” Jeff examines the tension between AI as transformative breakthrough and potential disruption, and what that means for investors. Using recent market performance data, he explains how expectations, valuations, and diversification shape disciplined decision-making during periods of technological change and uncertainty. Topics covered: A client conversation about AI and uncertainty Media narratives: AI as breakthrough vs. disruption Market expectations versus emotional headlines Recent performance: IGV vs. VOO and market rotation How valuations influence future expected returns The risks of concentration in high-growth sectors Diversification and systematic rebalancing Building resilience instead of predicting the future Maintaining discipline during technological change Useful Links: Jeff Bernier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeffberniercfp_the-money-and-meaning-show-activity-7202103509700227072-h0Qn/ TandemGrowth Financial Advisors: https://www.tandemgrowth.com/ Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
I like to think the 401k retirement savings method of just automatically adding every 2 weeks is a good way to think of any portfolio you're managing while you're in the accumulation phase. That's how to avoid panic selling. The 40-40-20 portfolio that I manage for myself has allowed me to stay invested while still feeling like I have control over things. Get my FREE newsletter or sign up for the paid version with benefits like the Office Hours and tracking the portfolios in Savvy Trader https://dailystockpick.substack.com/THESE SALES END SOON: TRENDSPIDER - get any annual plan and I'll send you my 4 hour algorithm. Seeking Alpha's Tool kit *BEST DEAL - SEEKING ALPHA BUNDLE - Save over $150 and get Premium and Alpha Picks together ALPHA PICKS - Want to Beat the S&P? Save $50 Seeking Alpha Premium - FREE 7 DAY TRIAL SEEKING ALPHA PRO - TRY IT FOR A MONTH FOR ONLY $89 EPISODE SUMMARY⚠️ Volatility & Levels: Why a VIX spike into the 30s has me building a buy-list instead of panicking, key S&P 500 levels I'm watching, and how I prep 4–5 “auto-buy” names for big dips.
We're already seeing the dip being bought. Plus I bring up a couple of GREAT buys this weekend that I found. The episode is CHOCK full of watch list worthy stocks and potential flyers that I'm looking at. PS: I know I'm going to get canceled for that thumbnail. My apologies to anyone who's offended. No need to roast me. Get my FREE newsletter or sign up for the paid version with benefits like the Office Hours and tracking the portfolios in Savvy Trader https://dailystockpick.substack.com/THESE SALES END SOON: TRENDSPIDER - get any annual plan and I'll send you my 4 hour algorithm. Seeking Alpha's Tool kit *BEST DEAL - SEEKING ALPHA BUNDLE - Save over $150 and get Premium and Alpha Picks together ALPHA PICKS - Want to Beat the S&P? Save $50 Seeking Alpha Premium - FREE 7 DAY TRIAL SEEKING ALPHA PRO - TRY IT FOR A MONTH FOR ONLY $89 EPISODE SUMMARY
John Q. Taxpayer is in the home stretch of his career, looking for the best way to catch-up and build his tax-free bucket. Meanwhile, a pair of young financial nerds in Omaha are already strong savers, but they're wondering whether a simple "VOO for life" strategy is enough to help them reach multimillionaire status in retirement. Also, Janine retired unexpectedly. Can her remaining savings support a European retirement lifestyle? From Jonas Grumby's "glitch in the matrix" tax strategy to the potential tax nightmare of Dolly's literal sack of inherited gold coins, today on Your Money, Your Wealth® podcast 568, Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA. spitball on how folks from different generations with different situations can reach the same ultimate goal: positioning assets today to ensure the most tax-free wealth tomorrow. Plus, the fellas spitball on the "double taxation" trap of retirement plan loans for Pete in North Carolina, and the affordability of 50-year mortgages for Semper Fi in Michigan. Free Financial Resources in This Episode: https://bit.ly/ymyw-568 (full show notes & episode transcript) Why Asset Location Matters - free guide All About Asset Location - more free resources 15 Maneuvers to Duck an Unplanned Early Retirement Knockout - YMYW TV Financial Blueprint (self-guided) Financial Assessment (Meet with an experienced professional) REQUEST your Retirement Spitball Analysis DOWNLOAD more free guides READ financial blogs WATCH educational videos SUBSCRIBE to the YMYW Newsletter Connect With Us: YouTube: Subscribe and join the conversation in the comments Podcast apps: subscribe or follow YMYW in your favorite Apple Podcasts: leave your honest reviews and ratings Chapters: 00:00 - Intro: This Week on the YMYW Podcast 01:05 - After-Tax 401(k) Catch-Ups vs Taxable Investing (John Q Taxpayer) 06:16 - Forced Early Retirement: Social Security and Roth Conversion Timing? (Janine, Bothell, WA) 11:30 - Are 50-Year Mortgages Actually Affordable? (Semper Fi, Stevensville, MI) 17:59 - 401(k) Loan vs Mortgage Payoff (Pete, NC) 21:27 - Can You Manufacture a Step-Up in Basis? (Jonas Grumby, The Colony, TX) 25:03 - Inherited Gold Coins and Capital Gains Taxes (Dolly, 63, TN) 29:35 - Spitball for Young Investors Who Don't Have Millions (Young Financial Nerds, Omaha, NE) 42:13 - Outro: Next Week on the YMYW Podcast
If you're concerned about your portfolio - here's what I'm doing and why. The tools are there to help me make unemotional decisions because panic selling is not a strategy. SPONSORED BY SEEKING ALPHA Get my FREE newsletter or sign up for the paid version with benefits like the Office Hours and tracking the portfolios in Savvy Trader https://dailystockpick.substack.com/THESE SALES END SOON: TRENDSPIDER SALE - get any annual plan and I'll send you my 4 hour algorithm. Seeking Alpha's "VALENTINES DAY SALE"SEEKING ALPHA BUNDLE - Save over $150 and get Premium and Alpha Picks together ALPHA PICKS - Want to Beat the S&P? Save $75 Seeking Alpha Premium - FREE 7 DAY TRIAL and 15% OFFSEEKING ALPHA PRO - TRY IT FOR A MONTH FOR ONLY $89 EPISODE SUMMARY
Trendspider weekend sale - GO AND USE SIDEKICK this weekend. $7 for a 2 week trial. A great episode with why I'm selling $MSFT and where I'm putting that 6 figure investment. Get my FREE newsletter or sign up for the paid version with benefits like the Office Hours and tracking the portfolios in Savvy Trader https://dailystockpick.substack.com/THESE SALES END SOON: TRENDSPIDER WEEKEND SALE - JUST THIS WEEKEND. $7 for TRENDSPIDER and get any annual plan and I'll send you my 4 hour algorithm. SEEKING ALPHA BUNDLE - Save over $100 and get Premium and Alpha Picks together ALPHA PICKS - Want to Beat the S&P? Save $50 Seeking Alpha Premium - FREE 7 DAY TRIAL SEEKING ALPHA PRO - TRY IT FOR A MONTH FOR ONLY $89 EPISODE SUMMARY
Questions? Comments?In this listener-driven episode, Don, Tom, and advisor Roxy Butner tackle a wide range of investing questions, starting with the explosive growth of ETFs and why many new funds—especially active, leveraged, and thematic products—may be risky for long-term investors. They discuss whether and how to exit expensive inherited mutual funds, how to use low-income years for tax planning, and why capital gains can still trigger taxes even in sabbatical years. The team reviews a complex multi-fund portfolio, explains the pros and cons of adding growth tilts, and dives into behavioral finance—offering practical ways to resist over-tinkering. They close with guidance for investing inherited money later in life, emphasizing purpose, risk tolerance, and family planning, and preview the upcoming RetireMeet event.0:04 Intro, listener questions, and why “ETF” is not “EFT”0:27 ETF growth in 2025 and the rise of active and leveraged funds1:31 Why most new ETFs worry Tom (active, leverage, speculation)2:04 Choosing the right ETF: costs, indexing, and long-term focus3:16 Roxy joins and the listener Q&A begins3:54 Inherited AIVSX: taxes, donating shares, and switching to ETFs7:04 Why traditional mutual funds are tax-inefficient8:14 Sabbatical year strategy and capital gains misconceptions10:39 When to involve a tax professional11:31 Portfolio mix: VOO, Avantis, international, and value tilts12:17 Why adding VUG may increase risk14:57 Asset location challenges and rebalancing problems15:22 Behavioral finance: resisting the urge to tinker19:21 How often to check your portfolio20:10 Discipline, rules, and systematic investing21:11 Inherited $300K at age 79: purpose and next-generation planning23:40 Building a taxable portfolio for heirs24:40 RetireMeet preview and featured speakersLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this listener-driven episode, Don, Tom, and advisor Roxy Butner tackle a wide range of investing questions, starting with the explosive growth of ETFs and why many new funds—especially active, leveraged, and thematic products—may be risky for long-term investors. They discuss whether and how to exit expensive inherited mutual funds, how to use low-income years for tax planning, and why capital gains can still trigger taxes even in sabbatical years. The team reviews a complex multi-fund portfolio, explains the pros and cons of adding growth tilts, and dives into behavioral finance—offering practical ways to resist over-tinkering. They close with guidance for investing inherited money later in life, emphasizing purpose, risk tolerance, and family planning, and preview the upcoming RetireMeet event. 0:04 Intro, listener questions, and why “ETF” is not “EFT” 0:27 ETF growth in 2025 and the rise of active and leveraged funds 1:31 Why most new ETFs worry Tom (active, leverage, speculation) 2:04 Choosing the right ETF: costs, indexing, and long-term focus 3:16 Roxy joins and the listener Q&A begins 3:54 Inherited AIVSX: taxes, donating shares, and switching to ETFs 7:04 Why traditional mutual funds are tax-inefficient 8:14 Sabbatical year strategy and capital gains misconceptions 10:39 When to involve a tax professional 11:31 Portfolio mix: VOO, Avantis, international, and value tilts 12:17 Why adding VUG may increase risk 14:57 Asset location challenges and rebalancing problems 15:22 Behavioral finance: resisting the urge to tinker 19:21 How often to check your portfolio 20:10 Discipline, rules, and systematic investing 21:11 Inherited $300K at age 79: purpose and next-generation planning 23:40 Building a taxable portfolio for heirs 24:40 RetireMeet preview and featured speakers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Does traditional meditation feel impossible when you're anxious? If you've ever sat down to meditate while panicked, only to find your heart racing and thoughts spinning, you aren't doing it wrong. You are simply trying to solve a body problem with your mind.In this special episode of Calming Anxiety, Martin guides you through a "Bottom-Up" Somatic Reset. Instead of thinking your way to calm, we use biological mechanics to signal safety directly to your nervous system. This is the perfect toolkit for the "Freeze" response, high-functioning anxiety, and neurodivergent listeners who struggle with stillness.In this 10-minute guided session, you will learn:The Adrenaline Shake: How to physically discharge trapped stress and cortisol from your muscles.Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Using the "Voo" sound (vocal vibration) to apply the parasympathetic brake.Orienting: A visual technique to break the tunnel vision of anxiety and signal safety to the primal brain.The Physiological Sigh: The fastest breathing pattern to reduce stress in real-time.Why this works: When you are in "fight or flight," your body is flooded with chemicals. You cannot think them away; you have to move them away. Join Martin for this short, powerful session to shake off the worry and feel the shift from frozen to flowing.Feeling the shift? If this somatic reset helped you drop your shoulders and unclench your jaw today, please Subscribe and hit the Notification Bell so you never miss a daily dose of calm.Help us help others: Do you know someone who "freezes" when they are stressed? Share this episode with them right now via text or social media. You might just give them the tool they need to get through their day.
#676: Ally:How can I optimize my asset allocation and Roth contributions now that I'm over $1 million in assets? I'm 45, single, never married, with about $1.2 million in assets. Roughly $100,000 is in stocks, which might scare some people. Here's my breakdown: Vanguard brokerage account: VTSAX $132,000, ISCV $5,000, VOO $5,000 Vanguard Rollover IRA: VTSAX $65,000, IVV $25,000, VOO $62,000 Vanguard Roth IRA: VTSAX $228,000, ISCV $6,000 Pre-tax 401(k): Active stock fund $218,000 (0.01% expense ratio), Equity dividend fund $55,000 (0.01% expense ratio) Russell 1000: $270,000 (0% expense ratio) HSA: $9,000 in the Russell 1000 and Russell 2000 ESPP: $90,000 Savings account: $12,000 I view my brokerage accounts as savings, where I can sell assets if I need cash, as well as sell my company shares. My questions: How far am I from the efficient frontier? How efficient is my asset allocation? I've mostly been a “VTSAX and chill” type. If I rebalance, what's the best way to do it without incurring taxes? Next year, I'll make more than $150,000, even after contributing $24,500 to my pre-tax 401(k) in 2026. Can I still do a backdoor Roth, given that I already have an IRA balance? I was told it could be complicated. Am I out of luck investing in a Roth next year? Also, should I roll over my 401(k) into my existing Rollover IRA to gain more investment options, even though the 401(k) fees are very low? I've reached over $1 million in assets, but I'm not confident my first million was invested efficiently. I want to correct it before reaching my next million. Emma: Can We Split a Dependent's Tax Status Midyear to Maximize Health Insurance Subsidies? We're a family of four with two adults and two children, ages 15 and 21. Our 21-year-old is a full-time university student and is expected to graduate in May 2026. The hope is that she'll secure a full-time job after graduation. Our health care broker told us that we could claim her as a dependent for half of the year and then have her claim herself for the second half. According to the broker, this would allow her to stay on our health insurance and help us qualify for a larger premium subsidy. Is it actually possible to split a dependent's tax status this way within a single year, or is this a misunderstanding? Anonymous: Is It Wise to Hold Some Investments Outside the U.S. for Geopolitical Diversification? I've always believed that “this time isn't different,” but lately I'm feeling uneasy. I'm increasingly concerned about what seems like a slow erosion of institutional trust in the U.S., especially regarding agencies and structures that support our financial system. From leadership changes at key government institutions to growing political influence over economic policy, I'm starting to wonder if it's prudent to hold a small portion of assets physically and legally outside the U.S. I'm not talking about exotic offshore schemes. I mean legitimate ways to invest in broad index funds or ETFs through a brokerage account based abroad—as a form of geopolitical diversification and personal contingency planning. I'd love to hear your perspective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Questions? Comments?This episode of Talking Real Money takes aim at the latest “easy money” illusion—house flipping—explaining why rising costs, higher interest rates, softer housing demand, and plain old competition have drained much of its appeal. Tom and Don connect flipping's decline to a familiar pattern of speculative behavior, much like day trading or past real estate manias, and reinforce why there are no reliable shortcuts to wealth. Listener calls drive a wide-ranging discussion on global diversification versus U.S.-only investing, the dangers of concentration risk in the S&P 500, how recency bias distorts performance comparisons, and why owning more markets matters more than making predictions. The episode wraps with practical retirement guidance for older investors, including simplifying portfolios with low-cost target-date funds, and closes with trademark humor and perspective.0:05 Show open, intro banter, singing callbacks, and weekend rhythm0:28 House flipping compared to day trading and FOMO investing1:28 Why flipping activity is down sharply: costs, rates, and competition3:41 The myth of “passive income” in real estate4:50 Softer housing markets and demographic headwinds6:02 No magic systems—long-term investing still wins8:27 Lisa (Colorado): investing nonprofit funds at Vanguard10:30 VOO vs VTI vs VT and the case for global diversification12:29 Volatility, standard deviation, and diversification basics14:44 Sharpe ratios, recency bias, and misleading performance metrics16:54 Charles (Seattle): Boeing plans, VOO, and AVGE at Schwab18:32 S&P 500 concentration risk and the “Magnificent Seven”21:33 Jason (Sammamish): VTI vs VT debate and long-term market data28:41 Debbie (Camano Island): portfolio risk concerns at age 7331:20 Risk tolerance vs risk capacity in retirement33:16 Vanguard target-date funds as a simple retirement solution36:01 Lighter close with creative fundraising and holiday humorLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This episode of Talking Real Money takes aim at the latest “easy money” illusion—house flipping—explaining why rising costs, higher interest rates, softer housing demand, and plain old competition have drained much of its appeal. Tom and Don connect flipping's decline to a familiar pattern of speculative behavior, much like day trading or past real estate manias, and reinforce why there are no reliable shortcuts to wealth. Listener calls drive a wide-ranging discussion on global diversification versus U.S.-only investing, the dangers of concentration risk in the S&P 500, how recency bias distorts performance comparisons, and why owning more markets matters more than making predictions. The episode wraps with practical retirement guidance for older investors, including simplifying portfolios with low-cost target-date funds, and closes with trademark humor and perspective. 0:05 Show open, intro banter, singing callbacks, and weekend rhythm 0:28 House flipping compared to day trading and FOMO investing 1:28 Why flipping activity is down sharply: costs, rates, and competition 3:41 The myth of “passive income” in real estate 4:50 Softer housing markets and demographic headwinds 6:02 No magic systems—long-term investing still wins 8:27 Lisa (Colorado): investing nonprofit funds at Vanguard 10:30 VOO vs VTI vs VT and the case for global diversification 12:29 Volatility, standard deviation, and diversification basics 14:44 Sharpe ratios, recency bias, and misleading performance metrics 16:54 Charles (Seattle): Boeing plans, VOO, and AVGE at Schwab 18:32 S&P 500 concentration risk and the “Magnificent Seven” 21:33 Jason (Sammamish): VTI vs VT debate and long-term market data 28:41 Debbie (Camano Island): portfolio risk concerns at age 73 31:20 Risk tolerance vs risk capacity in retirement 33:16 Vanguard target-date funds as a simple retirement solution 36:01 Lighter close with creative fundraising and holiday humor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices