Beating Inflation, Alternative Assets, and Simplifying Your Finances with Ben Carlson

#42: Author and financial advisor Ben Carlson joins Chris to share investing, saving, and giving tips and tricks. They discuss what you can do instead of picking stocks, the differences between how institutions invest and how individuals invest, how to assess if you need a financial advisor, short-term and long-term approaches to beating inflation, and why you should automate your giving. 

Ben Carlson (@awealthofcs) is a financial advisor and Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management. He is also the author of four books about saving and investing and the popular blog A Wealth of Common Sense.

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Selected Links From The Episode

Connect with Ben Carlson: A Wealth of Common Sense | Animal Spirits Podcast | Twitter

Ben Carlson’s Books:

• A Wealth of Common Sense: Why Simplicity Trumps Complexity in Any Investment Plan
• Everything You Need to Know About Saving For Retirement
• Don’t Fall For It: A Short History of Financial Scams
• Organizational Alpha: How to Add Value in Institutional Asset Management

Book Recommendations:

• The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
• The Investor's Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between
• What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars

Invest in real estate: Fundrise

Roboadvisor: Wealthfront ($5k managed free with this link)

Automate your giving: Daffy (free $25 with this link)

Fiduciary Financial Advisors: Wealth Foundry | XY Planning Network

401k Fee Analyzer: TD Ameritrade 401k Fee Analysis

Full Show Notes

Who is Ben Carlson? (00:11)

Why is Ben Carlson done picking stocks? (01:22)

Alternatives to picking stocks. (04:32)

What you should do before exploring stock alternatives. (09:19)

Why you should have rules for every investment you make. (11:36)

Lessons from how institutions invest. (16:00)

What are asset allocations (and should you trust a roboadvisor with your asset allocation)? (18:19)

Should you work with a financial advisor? (21:58)

Should you max out all your retirement accounts? (25:42)

Where should you keep your cash for short-term savings? (30:14)

Using leverage reasonably: should you do it? (37:31)

What’s happening with inflation in 2022 (and how to beat it long term)? (40:30)

Should you invest in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities to protect your cash against inflation? (42:46)

Non-investment related ways to simplify your financing (optimism and automated giving). (45:29)

Having a savings allocation (fun money). (49:00)

The statistics that prove why saving is more important than investing. (51:43)

Ben Carlson’s book recommendations. (54:15)

How to connect with Ben. (57:22)

Connect with Chris

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