How To Smooth Out Your Investing Ride...or not (SB1668)

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Stacking Benjamins Show – "How To Smooth Out Your Investing Ride...or not" (SB1668) Release Date: April 9, 2025

---

Introduction

In episode SB1668 of The Stacking Benjamins Show, hosts Joe Saul-Sehy and OG delve into the complexities of managing investment volatility amidst economic uncertainties such as tariffs, trade wars, and consumer spending slowdowns. The episode aims to provide listeners with strategies to stabilize their investment portfolios, whether they are novices or seasoned investors.

---

Main Discussion: Market Volatility and Tariffs

The episode kicks off with a discussion centered around a recent Wall Street Journal article by John Cinderel, which examines the correlation between President Trump's tariffs and the stock market's downward trend over the past few months. Joe references the piece, highlighting the argument that focusing solely on tariffs oversimplifies the myriad factors influencing the market.

Joe Saul-Sehy [07:52]: “The things that really affect the market, OG, come out of the blue sometimes, right? They are things that you didn't expect...”

OG contends that attributing market volatility solely to tariffs is a narrow perspective, emphasizing the importance of recognizing multiple risk factors that can impact investments.

---

Debate: Is Investing Dangerous?

A spirited debate unfolds between Joe and OG regarding the inherent dangers of investing. OG passionately argues that investing, when approached correctly, is not dangerous and is essential for financial growth. He criticizes the portrayal of the stock market as fraught with peril, suggesting that fear-based narratives deter people from investing altogether.

OG [09:21]: “This is completely normal. If you look at the stock market and go, oh my God, there's danger around every corner... That's being stupid, that's just being dumb.”

Joe counters by acknowledging the risks associated with short-term investments and the potential dangers of not diversifying. He emphasizes the importance of a long-term investment horizon to mitigate these risks.

Joe Saul-Sehy [10:52]: “Once you realize there's no danger to investing 100, there's danger and there's risk...”

The hosts ultimately agree that understanding and mitigating risks through diversification and a long-term perspective are crucial for successful investing.

---

Hedging Strategies: Yen as a Hedge

Transitioning to hedging strategies, the hosts discuss a headline from Investment News featuring Goldman Sachs. The article suggests that the Japanese yen can serve as an effective currency hedge against US recession risks, predicting the yen's appreciation against the dollar.

Joe scrutinizes this advice, questioning its practicality for the average investor.

Joe Saul-Sehy [17:25]: “Goldman Sachs, very smart people, says that if you just buy some yen, then...”

OG remains skeptical about relying on currency hedges like the yen, arguing that such strategies may be overly concentrated and speculative.

OG [19:13]: “Hedging, that's not investing. It's speculating.”

The discussion highlights the complexities and potential pitfalls of alternative hedging strategies, advising listeners to approach such recommendations with caution.

---

Listener Question: All-in-One Funds vs. Diversified Portfolio

Listener Ryan from Tennessee poses a thoughtful question about the efficacy of all-in-one funds like Dimensional Fund Advisors' DFAW or Avantis Investors' AVGE as simplified substitutes for diversified portfolios that align with the Efficient Frontier theory.

Joe and OG break down Ryan's query, explaining the advantages and limitations of single-fund portfolios versus diversified multi-fund approaches. They acknowledge that while all-in-one funds offer convenience and broad diversification, they may lack the nuanced control and potential tax benefits that come with managing separate holdings.

OG [35:37]: “Dimensional kind of leans on [academic research] quite a bit...”

Joe adds that for retirement accounts like IRAs or Roth IRAs, consolidated funds can simplify portfolio management without compromising diversification.

Joe Saul-Sehy [41:33]: “I think the risk is that you don't understand what you're doing. That to me is a danger in your portfolio is that I don't get why I'm here.”

The hosts conclude that both approaches are valid, depending on the investor's preferences for simplicity versus control, and stress the importance of understanding the underlying investments.

---

TikTok Minute: Jimmy Carr on Trading Time for Money

In the TikTok Minute segment, comedian Jimmy Carr shares insights from his career, drawing parallels between trading time for money and financial decision-making. He humorously discusses the sacrifices involved in pursuing one's passions versus securing financial stability, resonating with listeners contemplating their career and investment choices.

Jimmy Carr: “How much to not live your life? How much do I have to give you across the table?”

---

Trivia Segment: NASA's First Astronauts

Doug presents an engaging trivia question about NASA's first seven astronauts, known as the Mercury Seven. He recounts notable achievements of these pioneers, such as Alan Shepard becoming the first American in space and John Glenn orbiting the Earth.

Doug [27:57]: “What did NASA call these first seven astronauts? They were the Mercury Seven, cuz. Why not?”

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the contributions of these astronauts to modern space exploration and their legacy in advancing human achievement.

---

Key Takeaways

1. Diversification is Crucial: Avoid focusing solely on single factors like tariffs. A diversified portfolio helps mitigate risks from various market uncertainties.

2. Long-Term Perspective: Adopting a long-term investment horizon (10+ years) reduces the impact of short-term market volatility and aligns with strategies to achieve financial goals.

3. Understand Hedging Strategies: While strategies like currency hedging can offer protection, they may introduce additional complexities and risks. It's essential to evaluate their suitability for individual portfolios.

4. All-in-One Funds vs. Diversification: Single-fund portfolios provide simplicity and broad exposure, suitable for retirement accounts, while multi-fund diversified portfolios offer greater control and potential tax benefits.

5. Education and Awareness: Understanding the inherent risks and strategies in investing empowers individuals to make informed decisions rather than relying on fear-based narratives.

---

Conclusion

Episode SB1668 offers a comprehensive exploration of investment strategies to navigate market volatility. Through insightful discussions, debates, and listener engagement, Joe and OG equip listeners with the knowledge to make informed financial decisions. Whether considering diversification, hedging, or simplified investment vehicles, the episode underscores the importance of education and a strategic approach to personal finance.

---

For more insights and detailed discussions, visit StackingBenjamins.com.

Transcript

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

This episode is brought to you by Navy Federal Credit Union. We know how fast life moves. That's why we have all in one banking to let you keep on banking on by saving time and money and getting a full picture of all your finances. Plus whether you have credit or not, you can build your credit score with the new ability to report on time bill payments. Learn how you can keep on banking on@navy federal.org Navy Federal Credit Union. Our members are the mission insured by ncua.

[NHTSA Representative]

Are you someone who tries to drive while distracted by your phone? Someone who props it on the steering wheel or peeks down at it for a glance? Or just scrolls and scrolls? If so, you could be the next person to get into a fender bender, get a ticket, veer off the road, or even cause a crash that kills you or. Or someone else. Enough already. Put the phone away or pay. Paid for by nhtsa.

[Doug]

Hey, everyone. Just a reminder to tell Joe's mom she looks like she lost weight because I accidentally parked on the grass again.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Hey, guys.

[OG]

Mics are hot. Quiet on the set.

[Doug]

Live from Joe's mom's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin show. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. And with all the talk about tariffs and trade wars and consumer buying slowdowns, how. How do you effectively hedge against all of this volatility? Whether you're new to investing or a seasoned pro, we'll talk about smoothing out your ride in the stock market on today's show. Plus, we'll help stacker Ryan decide between using a diversified portfolio or a single fund that combines the best of all worlds. Why not just keep investing simple. All that, plus our world famous TikTok minute and my world famous trivia challenge. And now two guys who are buckled in and more like strapped down to their gurneys and they're cleared for takeoff. It's Joe and O J. J J.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I just want to know what airline you've been flying, Doug. Strapped to your gurney and ready for takeoff. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Doug's weird airline fantasy podcast. I'm Joe Salsihai. Average Joe. Money on the tweeter machine. And man, we are ready to roll on a potpourri episode. OG because we've got topics and more topics and heck, even more topics. How are you today, my friend?

[OG]

I am. I'm just happy to be here. Thanks for asking. How are you doing today?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I am happy you're here. You and I getting some rain. Like the next five days in a row. It's supposed to rain. You building Your ark.

[OG]

You know how people put those little blow up things around their cars, the little hail protectors? I don't know, they probably don't do that in Texarkana.

[Doug]

But nobody does that.

[OG]

Yeah, they do. Yes, they do. It's like a big giant balloon that.

[Doug]

You put around your prophylactic, isn't it?

[OG]

Huh?

[Doug]

It's a prophylactic device.

[OG]

Oh, could be. But it's for your car and it goes around the whole thing and it's like a big net. Not net, but it's like a big blow up thing so the hail doesn't get to your car. You guys don't do that?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We don't have them in Texarkana. No, not like there.

[Doug]

We just invented these things up in the north called garages.

[OG]

We have those too. But when you, when your garage is only a three car garage, what are you gonna do with your fourth car?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

So good. So, so, so, so good.

[OG]

I mean, what, you gotta pick, Mercedes or McLaren? Which one's getting protected today?

[Doug]

The high school kids? Land Rover gets to stay out.

[OG]

I mean, that always is the challenge, right? You're like, okay, and then what?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

What are you doing with the Porsche?

[OG]

Navy Federal is gonna hit you with a higher insurance cost, you know, because you gotta hail claim.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You know, those insurance costs get you every time, Doug. Get you every, every time.

[Doug]

Damn right they get me.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We got a great show. We are already rolling. Starting off poking each other. It's going to be great. We get a full hour of this, everybody. But to kick things off, we're going to start off with a fantastic headline about ways some experts are talking about you smoothing out the ride in the stock market. But before we shine a light on that for you, we got a couple of sponsors who make sure this is free for you so you don't to pay a dime for any of this Goodness. And we're going to hear from them. And then into today's headline. Every day when we're on the road, people around us endanger themselves and others by using their phones while driving. They think they're hiding it, but we've all seen them and we know exactly who they are. For instance, there's the sneak a peeker who darts their eyes between the road and their text. There's also the got a ticketer looking upset because they just got a ticket for using their phone while driving. And what about the fast grower who can't drive five minutes without updating their social feeds? Or the night lighter who has that mysterious glow illuminating the inside of their Car After Dark. Any of these sound familiar? If they remind you of yourself or someone you know, rethink your behavior before you find yourself becoming the fender benderer, the veering off the rotor, or worst of all, the driver who killed someone. Put the phone away or pay. Paid for by NHTSA this episode is brought to you by Navy Federal Credit Union. We know just how fast your life moves. You've bills to pay, mouths to feed and not a lot of free time. That's why we created an all in one banking experience that lets you keep on banking on. It can save you time and money with new lightning fast direct deposit setup and it offers checking accounts with ATM refunds and no service fees. Plus, whether you've credit or not, you can build your credit score. With the new ability to report on time bill payments and with personalized financial insights on my making sense, the ability to view all your accounts in one place, custom notifications and 247 fraud protection, you can get a full picture of your finances. So if you want an all in one banking experience that lets you keep on banking on, sign up today. Learn more@navy federal.org Navy Federal Credit Union Our members are the mission Insured by NCUA hello darlings. And now it's time for your favorite.

[OG]

Part of the show. Our Stacking Benjamin's headlines.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Our headline today comes to us from the Wall Street Journal. Last week, on Wednesday afternoon, the White House announced even more sweeping tariffs. John Cinderel wrote this piece in the Wall Street Journal. Don't blame Trump for all the stock market's problems. Of course we've had in response to the tariffs and also lots of other factors. We have had a stock market that has trended lower, to put it mildly, the past couple months. John writes this OG with the S P500 having suffered a correction in the word quote recession being uttered across Wall street, it's tempting to link the fate of the stock market to the Trump trade war. But investors shouldn't forget that danger can come from many directions. That last sentence that Syndro wrote I really, really, really like because here's what happens. We get focused on one lever, right? We get focused on one thing. And one of the things that really historically have happened in my 30 plus years doing this, you're going on 30 years doing this.

[OG]

That's a long time.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

The things that really affect the market, OG come out of the blue sometimes, right? They are things that you didn't expect. Some of the black swan events that happen or this thing happened or it's a conglomeration of 50 million things that occur. And sure, we've got this easy tariff stuff right in front of us, but I love, I love, love, love what Syndro's implying here. Don't get so myopic that you're just focused on one thing. And you forget danger's always lurking when you're investor around every corner.

[OG]

I take issue with this whole concept altogether. And to be clear, we're not trying to make a political argument one way or the other here. This is not like, it's not that bad. Trust us, guy, we're not like, you know, it's not. Has nothing to do with the politics of this.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And also, Og, to be clear, the day before this piece came out last week, the Wall Street Journal had another piece come out saying. Because this obviously sounds pro Trump from the beginning of the piece.

[OG]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's like, we're not having a. We don't have a dog in that.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah. Wall Street Journal had a piece the day before that said that Trump's tariffs are like a $36 trillion tax levied on the American public. So they called the tariff. So even the Wall Street Journal, I don't think, is being political here.

[OG]

Yeah, well, so here's the thing. I was listening to what the opening was here, and you said there's danger lurking everywhere. And I think that's an awful way to look at investing.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I think it's a great way to look at investing. No way.

[OG]

None of this is dangerous. This is completely normal. If you look at the stock market and go, oh, my God, there's danger around every corner. I got. You're never going to do anything. Why would you. If Doug's going out to chop trees down in his yard because of the ice storm from two weeks ago, and he's like, oh, my gosh, there's danger around every corner. He might not do it. Investing is not dangerous. There's nothing dangerous about it. Danger is not investing. It has nothing to do with tariffs or the market going up or going down or sideways. This is all short term. Who gives a crap if you're investing in the stock market right now or you've been investing for the last year, five years, 10 years, 30 years, whatever your time horizon has to be. Ten years plus, if you're an idiot and you're putting money in stocks right now that you need a year from now or two years from now, that's being stupid. That's not being dangerous. That's just being dumb. Don't do that. Kind of crap. But if you're investing for the future, none of this matters and none of it's dangerous. The only thing dangerous is not investing because you're worried about the tariffs or whatever else chaos. That theory the stupid Wall Street Journal wants to put out there and scare the hell out.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I mean, this might be semantics, but if you are investing for a year out, the market is dangerous. It is dangerous and it will take away your money with a one year time frame. And listen, Doug staying inside of his house, if there's, you know, trees across his driveway and there's the chance that ice might hit him on the head, him staying in his house forever, ice.

[OG]

Might hit him on the head.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Well, there's the short term and obvious and the long term and not so obvious, right? If we focus on the short term and obvious, quote, danger, then we're never going to freaking do anything. But the problem is is that the prescription in this case of doing nothing hurts the patient, which is I think 100%. My point, once you realize there's no danger to investing 100, there's danger and there's risk. If you invest in a penny stock, that stock could go to zero. Heck, if you invest in a stock that's even trading today for a hundred dollars a share, that stock could go to zero. That is a real and present danger with the stock market. What you're talking about is getting thoughtful about it. And how do you get thoughtful about the stock market? You actually take into account all the that could go wrong and you guard against those things, you guard against those dangers. So you've got two options when it comes to investing in the stock market. Number one, don't do it. Well, what happens then? Let's go to that outcome. Right. Which is your point or outcome number two is if I recognize that, what am I going to do? Number one, I'm going to get diversified. There's a way to avert the danger. Number two is I'm going to think not about one year or two years or what's going on with the trade war. I'm going to think in 10, 20, 15, you know, 30 year increments, that's averting the danger. It's not not dangerous. It is not. Not. It is dangerous. And once you realize that it's dangerous and then you start figuring out how you're going to play that game in a way that gives you the outcome that you need to get where you want to go, then, then I think you're a kick ass investor. So I couldn't disagree more, man. It's dangerous as I'll get out.

[OG]

I can tell you're all fired up, man.

[Doug]

Why are you yelling at us, man?

[OG]

I know.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Because it's stupid. He's still yelling, so it's so stupid.

[OG]

Well, I wouldn't call my comments it's not dangerous.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, it's dangerous.

[Doug]

Whoa, whoa.

[OG]

No. This is part of the problem with people who say things like, I can't invest in the stock market. It's too risky because they're afraid of the boogeyman that doesn't exist.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That boogeyman does exist.

[OG]

There is no boogeyman.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That boogeyman does exist.

[OG]

If you want to pick on a specific thing, like if I buy penny stocks, I could go, bro, well, yeah, no kidding. When I say investing, I'm talking about if you're putting a hundred bucks a month or a week or day or whatever your thing is into the s and P500. If you're putting a hundred bucks a month into the international markets. If you're putting a hundred bucks a month into small cap and it's. I'm talking about the big broad brushstroke of investing, not a particular thing. Yes, you could die penniless if you put all your money in Apple or you could be a billionaire. I don't know what's going to happen.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

But that is broad brushstroke. Broad brushstroke of investing is this is a stock in the stock market.

[OG]

If you put your money in a mutual fund or an ETF that is broadly diversified, there is zero, zero control.

[Doug]

You immediately. The example you immediately went to to get yourself all worked up was picking an individual stock. Nobody's ever said that.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, what he went to was getting away from the danger by doing something that because he's educated in this area, he knows how to do. That's what he did.

[OG]

I'm saying.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

So focusing on.

[OG]

I talk to a normal person on the street and I say to them, why are you not invested in the market right now? People will reply with a general phrase of it's risky, it's risky.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And why do they think it's risky?

[OG]

Because of stupid pieces like this Wall Street Journal article that say, don't invest in the market right now because of tariffs or do invest because it's tariffs. But know you're scary monster. There is absolutely nothing risky about owning the economy of the United States for.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

The next why do people think that way? Not a what.

[OG]

Why do people this nonsense. Because of this article of people going, it's so Scary. It's, you got to be careful with the danger around.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Are you saying. Because I think what I hear you saying is if we don't get educated on this and we don't understand that this is irrelevant, this whole thing, and if we take a long term approach, then we don't have to be worried at all.

[OG]

Why not have a Wall Street Journal article? How do we get that way?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

How do we get that way?

[OG]

Why not have a Wall Street Journal article that says investing is never dangerous when you're diversified and you have a 20 year time horizon.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You put a caveat on it. I love it. He puts a caveat on it when you're diversified and if you have a 20 year time horizon. And how do we understand that?

[OG]

OG I said at the very beginning that if you're investing in the stock market today for money you need tomorrow, that that's stupid. It's not dangerous. It's stupid. It may turn into be a good decision. Driving 100 miles an hour down the highway is stupid. You may get there faster or you may end up in a burning heap of molten metal. I mean, I don't know what's going to happen because it's dangerous. Well, I would, I would submit to the, to the court that driving 100 miles an hour down the interstate is dangerous. Yes, I would, I would, I would, I would capitulate to that. But investing in the stock market is not dangerous. I don't care. You have your opinion. You're very committed to it. And also I'm committed to mine. Next topic.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Your Honor, I think you're committed to it because you've already mitigated the risk. You've already mitigated the risk in your head. You've mitigated the risk. But the reason we have this podcast is to help people mitigate that risk and to learn how to avert the danger.

[OG]

Mitigate it by saying that there is none. If you start with the premise that there is none, there is no danger, then you're more likely to go down that path. If you start with the premise of it's dangerous, unless you follow all these specific rules, then it's like, well, I don't know, it still sounds dangerous.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You already had those rules.

[OG]

I'm just saying you just put, you.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Just put those rules in place, tell.

[OG]

People it's not dangerous. Let's just start by saying investing is a smart thing to do and it's not dangerous and everybody should do it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Well, how about this one? Well then if it's not dangerous, if it's not dangerous and it's really easy. Let's go to this headline. This headline from Investment News, Goldman Sachs. I mean there's a. There's a smart company with people that I should pay attention to. Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated expects the yen to climb to the low 140 levels against the dollar this year as jitters around US growth and trade in a totally not dangerous market bolster demand for the safest Aztecs. I added not dangerous.

[OG]

By the way, we got that part.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

The yen offers investors the best currency hedge should the chances of a U.S. recession increase. Says Kamaksia.

[OG]

Says some guy at Goldman Sachs or gal one of the Kama Trevity.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I'm sorry, Kamash. Kamaks to sell it. Oh, that's.

[OG]

Can you use it in a sentence, please?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

K A M A K S H Y A I'm. Whoa. Head of Global Foreign Exchange, Interest rates and emerging market strategies.

[Doug]

That person.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

The yen tends to do best when u s real rates and u S Equities are falling together. Trived he said in an interview in New York. Japan's currency screens is a more attractive hedge for the downside view on US Growth than it has done for some time. What we led with was that Goldman Sachs, very smart people, says that if you just buy some yen, then. Then we're good to go.

[OG]

Okay. I should I invest in foreign companies? Absolutely, yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Foreign. Scary at all? Not. Not foreign companies. I'm talking about foreign exchange. The forex. Buy some yen. Go buy some yen.

[OG]

Okay. I mean, that's pretty concentrated. I wouldn't do that. That seems a little silly, but why.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Wouldn'T you do that? Just wondering why you wouldn't do that.

[OG]

It's not. I mean, it's not smart. Why would. Why would you.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Why is it not smart? Just. Just avoid the word. Just go ahead and avoid the word.

[OG]

You want me to say that it's dangerous? Is that what you want me to say?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I guess advice is hella dangerous. It's horrible advice. Do you know anything about the yen? Does our average stacker know anything about the yen? They don't know anything about the Japanese.

[OG]

On my keyboard it's a Y with two lines on it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That's all you need to know. That's all we need to know.

[OG]

Hedging, that's not investing.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Hedging. Investing in speculation.

[OG]

It's not investing. It's not investing. It's speculating. Different thing which you learned how hedging transactions have a net outcome of zero. That's not investing. That's speculation.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I Think this idea. Doug, we mentioned at the open that we were going to tell you how to smooth out the stock market. This is how Goldman Sachs says he smooth it out.

[OG]

OG Smooth Joe out is what we need to do.

[Doug]

Yeah. Needs a mood leveler.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I do not understand why I'm playing the villain in your show. I do not understand.

[OG]

I don't understand why you're playing villain in your own show. But that's usually my job. But I'm letting you roll with it, buddy.

[Doug]

Wow.

[OG]

Good cop, bad cop. We switched roles all of a sudden and it's kind of nice over here. It's warm and fuzzy and feels nice.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I think the way that you smooth it out is exactly what you were saying earlier. Get a 30 year horizon, get a 20 year horizon.

[OG]

Don't be dangerous. Just don't be dangerous.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Don't think about the short term volatility. Stay diversified and don't think about that. I think that's the way to mitigate against the danger in the market. The danger in the market is that you're going to play it day to day. That's the danger in the market is that you're going to play the day to day game. You're going to play the tariff game. You're going to play the how do I smooth it out? Why am I trying to smooth out a market when volatility is my best friend?

[OG]

Always goes up. Yeah, there's no danger, there's no downside.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That's what you said.

[OG]

Yeah, there's no danger.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

What's going on here, Doug?

[Doug]

There's no danger in long term money. Amen is what I think we're all trying to say here.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Right.

[Doug]

But don't invest your two year money.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

In yen, Please God, do not try to smooth out the market. If you don't need this money for 20 years, why are you trying to smooth it out? Why are you trying to make your ride smoother? I think it's a better idea, I think it's a much better idea to realize there's going to be bumps in the road and I love this idea that they can come from anywhere. Back to Cidro and the Wall Street Journal pcog. The fact that those bombs can come from anywhere at any time and knowing they can come from anywhere at any time makes it a more complex, less dangerous. It doesn't make it less dangerous, it makes it equally as dangerous. But think about this. This is actually interesting when it comes to fear, when it comes to people's fears, and I've used this analogy before, if the plane starts bouncing around, the plane starts bouncing around with turbulence and the pilot doesn't come on and tell me there's going to be turbulence, right then I start freaking out. I think there's a bunch of stuff happening up there. I think there's like smoke coming from the consoles. The pilots are screaming, we're going down. If the pilot comes out ahead of time, that's what you. Pilot comes on. Yes, 100%.

[OG]

That's immediately where your mind goes, wow.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

God.

[OG]

He didn't say anything. We're all. We're all dead.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah. When you've got this very turbulent plane. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Do I get nervous when I fly? Hell, yeah, I get nervous. But when the pilot comes on ahead of time and tells me, you know what? This is going to be a bumpy flight. This is going to be a bumpy flight, there's no danger ahead. We know exactly what there is. If you just sit in your seats with your seatbelt fastened, things are going.

[OG]

To be just danger at all. It's going to be totally normal.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It's going to be just fine.

[OG]

It's not going to be dangerous.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

So then I. Joe has the.

[OG]

For those of you not looking on YouTube right now, Joe has the I'm going to reach across the table and punch you in the throat look.

[Doug]

He's.

[OG]

He's about that close.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

So then I have two choices. Og choice one is I don't. I don't make the flight, which is what you're talking about. The stock market is dangerous, so I'm not going to invest.

[OG]

Okay, well, I think there's a lot of people who think that. Yeah, I do. Right.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And what's that outcome if you follow that outcome to the very end?

[OG]

Have to walk.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, yeah. And think about, you're never going to reach your goal.

[OG]

Never going to.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You're 100%. It's fine. You can do that. You can go, you know what? I don't get in a plane. Then there's not a chance of a plane crash. There's not a chance that my seat belts on.

[OG]

But you might get attacked by a wolf instead on your hike to Orlando with your family.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Which is interesting because there is danger in the thing that you choose. Right. I mean, Stephen Covey talks about, you pick up one end of the stick, the other comes with it. If you decide I'm walking you, you think there's no danger there. There's a ton of danger there. Like, there's a. There's a bunch of danger there. Yeah. So I think that fully analyzing what the danger would be and then going from there. And this idea, Goldman favoring yen to hedge against volatility, just absolutely, incredibly ridiculous. We'll dive more into volatility and into all the different risks because I think there's a ton of different risks in your portfolio. And when we focus just on one, tariffs are going to get me. I think we're. We're in big trouble. Stacking benjamins.com 201 to sign up for. For the 201. Time for our TikTok minute. This is the part of the show where we shine a light on a TikTok creator who's either doing something brilliant or air quotes. Brilliant. Oh, gee, you think we're gonna hear brilliance right now? Or some. Some maybe air quotes.

[OG]

I'm so scared to answer. I'm gonna say air quotes.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We're talking about Monday about Seth Rogen and having too much money. I guess it's a nice follow up. This is one of my favorite comedians, Doug. I think you like this guy too. Jimmy Carr. Oh, yeah, this is Jimmy Carr, but not being funny, just talking about his career and how he became a comedian.

[Jimmy Carr]

I didn't leave my job to be rich and famous on tv. I left my job for.

[OG]

I don't.

[Jimmy Carr]

Yeah, yo ho ho, A pirate's life for me, we're doing comedy. I'm doing a gig above a pub. Someone gave me £20 cash in hand.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That was.

[Jimmy Carr]

I mean, it was crazy. I had, like, a good job. But it's that thing where you go, the good is the enemy of the best. How much to not live your life? How much to not follow your dreams? How much do I have to give you across the table? Now, I'm saying this to you now, right? You're a wealthy man, you're an investor or whatever. So it's going to be a high figure. But for most people in their mid-20s, they've just left college or early 20s, they've left college, and you go. They give you 35 grand to compromise on everything and always be tired and just work to my time. And people go, okay. That's the. The thing of, like, working for someone else is I think that that's the big shift, right? So the. My stand up is a metaphor in the book. I'm not trying to get people to become standups, frankly. I don't need the fucking competition. But the idea of going, going and doing your thing, even if it's less successful, but doing your thing, being your boss, being your CEO, great. But I'm all about that. When people tell me they've started a little business or done a little thing.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You just go, yeah, I love this idea that Jimmy brings up again of trading money for time. Like, how much money is it going to take, oh, gee, for you to give up on that thing? That's a 10. And instead go, you know what? I'll do the seven, I'll do the six.

[OG]

I like this quote, yo ho ho in a pirate's life for me.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I do, too.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You know, it's funny because it's not the twos and threes in our life that we can easily identify that are the thorns, because we get rid of those in a hurry. Right? It's the sixes and the sevens where it's like, yeah, it's okay. Yeah, you know what? It's okay. Those, I think, are the problem points for a lot of us in our life. And I don't know if it's necessarily working for somebody else that's the issue. It's actually designing your own curriculum. Right. Designing your own life. Good stuff from Jimmy Carr, by the way. Thanks to Julie for sending that to us. If you've got a TikTok you'd like us to watch. Was pretty inspiring. Usually people send me funny ones. That one was pretty inspiring, Julie. Joe Stacky benjamin.com for that. Coming up in the second half, we are going to help a stacker in need diversify his portfolio. Sources say, oh, gee, there's a bunch of danger in the stock market, so.

[OG]

I guess we'll see.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We're gonna see if we can help him out. Help a stacker in need. But first, Doug, you've got some trivia for us today. What's on tap in this day in history.

[Doug]

Hey there, stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. Houston has been home to a ton of interesting fun, including back on this date, April 9, 1965, when the Astrodome opened. There's fun thing number one. And then, as if that wasn't enough, Mickey Mantle, he went ahead and hit a home run in an exhibition game between the Astros and the Yankees the day it opened. Are you kidding me? I asked Joe's mom if she ever made the trip down I49 to the Astrodome, and she said she would never go into a filthy place like that. Like, filthy, Ma, what are you talking about? She's like, yeah, the Astrodome.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, no.

[Doug]

Hard pass. She said it. She said it. So after I clarified that Astros referred to astronauts, another term she had completely misconstrued I also shared that even Further back in 1959, NASA picked their first astronauts to today on today's date, April 9, most going on to amazing achievements, well deserved fame and piles of Benjamins. But here's today's question collectively as a group and toto what did NASA call these first seven astronauts? I'll be back, but after I go study the planets. Joe's mom keeps asking about Uranus, which she also doesn't fully grab grasp is an orbiting body.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And now word from our sponsors at Betterment when investing your money starts to feel like a second job, Betterment steps in with a little work life balance. They're an automated investing and savings app, which means they do the work while they build manage your portfolio. You build manage weekend plans. While they make it easy to invest for what matters, you just get to enjoy what matters. Their automated tools simplify the complex and put your money to work optimizing day after day and again and again. So go ahead, take your time to rest and recharge. Because while your money doesn't need a work life balance, you do make your money hustle with Betterment. Get [e-mail] that's B E T T E R M E N T.com investing involves risk performance, not guaranteed small business owners. State Farm's there with small business insurance to fit your specific needs. Whether you're starting a new venture or growing an existing one, State Farm helps you choose the right coverage to protect what matters most. Working with a local State Farm agent helps you understand your coverage options, offering local support to help you achieve your goals. Focus on turning your passion into a thriving business, knowing your insurance can change as your business grows. Stay Farm here to help you succeed with your business like a good neighbor, Stay Farm is there Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone. Paying big wireless way too much.

[NHTSA Representative]

Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments.

[NHTSA Representative]

But that's weird.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. First three months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mint mobile.com.

[Doug]

Hey there stackers. I'm Uranus observer and guy who loves astrology.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Doug]

Did I say it wrong? Joe's mom's neighbor Doug the seven astronauts selected by NASA on today's date back in 1950. Why are you making me laugh? Are nearly all household names. While sadly, Gus Grissom died when Apollo 1 caught fire. The other six achieved amazing feats. Here's a sample. Alan Shepard became the first American in space in 1961 and the fifth man to walk on the moon, 1971. John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. And oh yeah, a senator. And Gordon Cooper was the first American to spend an entire day in space. And the first to sleep in space. Or at least the first one to admit he fell asleep in space. Imagine sleeping in space. And to think, someday we'll even be able to send probes to Mars. We did that. Huh? All right, well, today's question collectively was, what did we call these first seven astronauts? They were the Mercury seven, cuz. Why not? And now back to the two rocket drivers operating this podcast surgery thing. Rocket.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, inside joke for the win, Og Right there. Rocket drivers. Rocket drivers. A little shout out to our good friend Frank Bologna for that. You think Frank's a fan of the show?

[OG]

Maybe.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yes.

[OG]

He should be.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yes. Frank was a person that called them rocket drivers, Doug, a long, long time ago.

[Doug]

Okay, thanks, Frank.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Not even being facetious was like, doesn't take a rocket driver to figure that out. Frank did not know that was rocket scientist. Could have been. Hey, let's help a stacker in need. Time to help out a stacker who said, you know what, I better call Saul.

[Doug]

See.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Hi and Og, this is the part of the show where we help out a stacker. If you would like us to help you at stackingbenjamins.com/voicemail gets you front and center and you can be every bit as cool as cucumber. Doug, the other side of the pillow and Ryan.

[Ryan]

Hey, Joe and Og, this is Ryan from Tennessee. I really appreciate your take on personal finance investing. Joe has talked about the efficient frontier on multiple occasions in the last few months. I know. He's also mentioned having holdings with Dimensional Fund Advisors. I'm drawn towards dimensional philosophy of factor tilts towards small cap value and profitability based on the FAMA French five factor model. I'm also drawn to the idea of an all in one fund portfolio. For simplicity, Dimensional's world Equity ETF symbol DFAW is a fund of funds. It's well diversified with approximately 12,000 companies across 45 countries and it holds mild factor tilts towards small value and straining companies based on profitability, all with an expense ratio of 0.25%. Its portfolio is roughly 72% US, 18% international developed, 8% emerging markets and 2% REITs. Avantis Investors has a similar global equity ETF ticker symbol AVGE, which is slightly more value and lends towards smaller capitalization than dfaw. What is your opinion of an all in one fund portfolio like DFAW or avge which covers multiple asset classes already as a simplified substitute to the efficient Frontier portfolio made of multiple holdings. Thanks.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Hey Ryan, thank you so much for the question. First of all, let's kind of help out people that don't have any clue what Ryan's talking about here. Let's begin og with this idea of Dimensional funds and he talks about Fama and French. So what is it that Dimensional is doing as a fund company that Ryan wants more of?

[OG]

Yeah, so Dimensional is a fund manufacturer, just like you would use Vanguard in a sentence and say I have a Vanguard fund or I have an iShares or I have a Fidelity fund. Dimensional is a investment company. Avantis is another company you mentioned. They're part of American Century. They're a fund company also. So as a matter of fact I was just looking this up to try to find it. They, they just put out a full length movie. I don't know, is it a full feature film? An hour long, two hours maybe documentary of how Dimensional started. But the long and the short of it is they as well as Ivantes are very focused on the academic piece of investing. A lot of the academic research that's come out of investing and different Nobel winning investing theory people have gone on to work with or consult with Dimensional. And so a lot of their, a lot of their investing behavior is kind of focused on that. It looks like you've got the name of it, Joe. What was the name?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I do. It's called Tune out the Noise and it's an Errol Morris film.

[OG]

Yeah. And it's on YouTube, you can find it for free. So it's great. Tune out the Noise. And so a lot of academic research has gone into Dimensional. I'm sure that's true for lots of companies. Dimensional kind of leans on it quite a bit. And, and one of the things that they've really focused on is what's called the FAMA French three factor model. And that was really kind of put out in the 70s and then formalized in the 90s. The idea being that there's areas of the market that exhibit higher expected returns. And those areas are stocks do better than bonds, value companies do better than growth companies, and small companies do better Than big. And now they are working on profitable companies do better than unprofitable shocking rocket science.

[Doug]

You know, took this long to get.

[OG]

To that blinding flash of the. Well, the way that I think about it is that makes sense to us. But the nerds at the nerdery are trying to prove it mathematically. So for them, the way that they think about these different factors or these different areas of the market is it has to transcend location in time. So it's not just well, yeah, value did great in the US from 1970 to 1974. So therefore, no, it does good all the time against in all market cycles, in all market conditions across the globe. You can imagine it's pretty difficult to kind of posit this theory and then let it get blown up by a bunch of other academic people until they get to the point where somebody goes, yes, we can prove mathematically that profitable companies do better than profitable, despite the fact that we go, yeah, I could have told you that. Give me the Nobel Prize, I should know. Or stocks do better than bonds, right? It's like we know that, but we know it because we have the history. What the math people are trying to do is to prove it. Focus on investing.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And by the way, just I'm reading down through this piece, OG there's a quote from Paul Merriman, who people may know on this show because we talk about Paul quite a bit. He and his team do a bunch of research and he talks about all the research that he's done is based on research that he originally found from Dimensional. Like he started with the research that Dimensional has been doing and then just expanded it from there. So even Paul is pointing at the dimensional nerdery, as you put it, saying hey, these guys are really into the science of why.

[OG]

And David Booth would tell you so he is the founder of Dimensional or one of the co founders of Dimensional. And he would tell you Luck played a lot into this for him because he happened to be at the University of Chicago when all of these finance guys were there, all doing this research all at the same time. And so a different person at a different college or a different, you know, all of this may not have transpired, but if you look at their board, it's just packed with Nobel laureates in any event. So Dimensional has this theory that if you create an index portfolio but then do some tilts, that's what they call it, some tilts toward these factors of smaller value, profitability, that you're going to get a smidge higher expected return. They seem to be right. But, you know, tomorrow's not promised to everybody, so we'll see what happens in the future. Avantis is another company that does this, interestingly enough, started by some members of the original dimensional team. So I'm not privy to that whole story, but maybe there is some sort of breakup and all of a sudden, you know, now there's two companies that do it so very similar. Avantis tends to lean more heavily into the factor tilts, the dimensional does they kind of. They're going to be a little bit more tilty, if that makes sense. So what Ryan's talking about here is if he believes that, if he believes the dimensional guys, right? And he says, hey, I like this line of thinking. This makes sense to me. I support this research or I support the fact that they've done the research and I believe this story. We happen to also, by the way, we heavily invest in dimensional Avantis. Can I skip to the end and just have one fund that does it all? Do I have to have a small cap fund and a large cap and a international and emerging markets and that sort of thing, or can I combine that into one? Whether it's a dimensional one, Avantis one, or, you know, other places have factor tilt models too. And the answer is, yeah, you can do one. Why do you have to complicate it? There's some benefits to having multiple funds, and one of the benefits would be rebalancing, potentially capital gains, capital loss, harvesting. There's some tax benefits to being able to trade and rebalance and that sort of thing, depending on how those positions are behaving. However, if this is an IRA or a Roth IRA and you're like, I just need one that gets me home, there's a lot worse you can do than complicate your life of having 15 different ETFs in your Roth IRA. So the short answer to all of this is, yeah, that's a fine option. There's. Whether it's the fund that he selected or one of the funds that he selected or a different variation of it, it's all equity, so just be aware of that. There's no fixed income in those portfolios. So you have to account for the fact that there's going to be some pretty wild bouncing arounds, if that makes sense. So if you need some fixed income or if you need some cash in your portfolio, you'd have to buy that separately.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I definitely like both of these better than a Target day fund. It's not trying to land the plane. They're not trying to guess what your goals are. Like you, I certainly have an appreciation for having your own asset allocation. I also think that it's a little stickier when you know why you're in the individual funds. Because I do think with my earlier diatribe about risk, I think the risk is that you don't understand what you're doing. That to me is a danger in your portfolio is that I don't get why I'm here. And so I just want to keep it easy in quotes. And so then the plane starts doing weird stuff and now I'm just, you know, grabbing my parachute and wrecking my own strategy. You know, that's why I kind of like building it. But certainly, listen, I don't think it needs to be complicated. Three, four funds, it doesn't have to be 85 funds. And you know, I've got one little string for everything.

[OG]

Yeah. And I'm pointing out one thing that you said that I forgot to mention. This is different than a target date fund. Because I think some people might hear this and go, wait a second, a fund of funds. I thought, oh, geez, been raging against the machine for that for 20 years. Like, what is going on? So the difference between a target date fund and this, there's some similarities. One similarity is it's a fund of funds. So the fund he mentioned has five different ETFs inside of it to make one ETF. So you can go buy those five or you can just have one. Right. If you want that asset allocation that they provide, that's the same in a target day fund. And in this, the difference is, is a target day fund will say, oh, you're 20 years from retirement, you need to be more conservative. You're 15 years from retirement, you need to be more conservative. You're 10. It's going to, to your point, you're say land the plane. It's going to continue to get more conservative as you approach the target date of the fund. If you buy a 2040 fund, as you get closer to 2040, you get more and more conservative. This is a static allocation, so it's not going to change in so much as being more conservative. It might change in terms of what Dimensional wants the allocation to be. But it's not going to say like, oh, there's not an end date for this fund, if that makes sense. It's this is the allocation, this is what we're going to go with.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

For that reason, I like it a lot better as well than a target.

[OG]

Day fund compared to a target day Fund. Yeah. Not the same.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Good stuff. Ryan, thank you so much for the question. If you've got a question for us, bring it, man. It's stacking benjamin's.com voicemail gets you on. And OG can explain, you know, what's going on here. Why would we have one fun. And why do we think differently about this than a target, a fund? Because we definitely, definitely, definitely do. All right, that is it. Except for Doug. I think we've got.

[Doug]

Yeah, we got a letter.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We got a letter on the back porch.

[Doug]

We. We do. Yeah, we got a letter from listener. And. And if Michelle had just, you know, been brave enough to call in, she could have gotten a T shirt for this. It's a great letter. She makes some great suggestions or has some great questions, and if we could have heard her amazing voice, she would have gotten a T shirt out of the deal. But alas, she doesn't. There's another thing I just need to preface this with, but I had to read between the lines a little bit on this letter because she's saying some things in here that she didn't actually type out. But I just. I sort of. After reading it a few times, I figured it out. So here we go. She says, hi, Joe. I've been listening to the show since 2020. It's one of the only podcasts I subscribe to. I love it and have learned so much.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That's nice.

[Doug]

From Doug.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah. Oh, I didn't see that in there.

[Doug]

That was one of those things. Like, after I read the whole thing just. It was implied when I put, like. I did the grammatical math for how she put the whole letter together. I realized that's really what she was trying to say. I'd like to make two episode suggestions for the Wednesday episodes with you and OG and then she says again between the lines, the boring parts when Doug's not talking. She says, 1. A deep dive into everything you consider for an emergency fund. You've consistently talked about three to six months of living expenses, but OG recently mentioned he had raised their home insurance deductible and would cover roof replacement and some other expenses out of pocket. That got me thinking. What else should be included in an emergency fund? Cash reserve Sounds like it could be a large amount of cash. So do you keep it all in cash or, like 50% in cash and 50 in treasury, since you most likely won't need the entire fund at the same time? That's all. Question one, and then question two was, could you have an episode about financial retirement planning for a Single person. Is it the same as for couples or are there some differences? A lot of examples on the show are about couples. And as a single person, I sometimes wonder if everything applies to me. Like term life insurance in parentheses. This time she just spells it out. She didn't make me read between the lines. No kids or specifics around retirement. Keep up the great work. Let's have more. Doug, thanks.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Michelle didn't read that letter either, but of course implied she was just. Yeah, implied, helping her out. Michelle, those are fantastic. By the way. We also in the basement Facebook group had some people that wanted more on crypto and also wanted more on Infinite Banking. Wanted to know how those things work. Well, here's what I like. I mean, we've been doing these deep dive episodes with Barry Ritholtz, with Molly Fletcher. We're going to do another one next week with Kevin Evers from the Harvard Business Review on the genius, the strategic genius of Taylor Swift. We're going to do a full week on everything. I mean, from managing your career, which we could all be better at, to managing your money diversification, all these different things that we lump into financial planning or career but really round out just having more Benjamins. But all these happened on Barry Ritholtz's week when he was talking about how not to invest. And I love Doug that it got people really excited about, hey, can we talk about this one? Can we talk about this one? That is exactly what we want with these deep dives. Like how do I go get more? And man, if you want to write to me and find out where to get some of this goodness that because we can't cover everything like Infinite Banking, we won't be covering on the show. I'm happy to point out places to learn more about why you don't want to do it.

[Doug]

Well, you know, something we could consider putting together, Joe is like a weekly newsletter that goes deeper in depth.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

If only we had a weekly newsletter.

[Doug]

That did it actually about making one of those.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Actually that is interesting about kind of refocusing Kevin's work around like Infinite Banking. How does Infinite Banking work? Or how does, you know, whatever that thing might be. But I do love OG the the idea of, you know, emergency funds are ubiquitous enough that I, I would love on one of these episodes to tackle good and bad in your emergency fund. And that'll include insurances, right? Because emergency fund insurance is kind of all together. So Michelle, game on on that one. Give us a few weeks. We work on a five week schedule so we're on that one, in terms of.

[Doug]

I like.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, Doug.

[Doug]

Oh, I was just gonna say I liked your second question also about single retirement planning for single people, because we don't talk about that enough. I think all. Because all of us are less than single. We probably don't think about that.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Well, yeah, and that's the danger point, right? I mean, the danger point for us is using analogies that have to do with, you know, Cheryl and I, you know, Mrs. OG whatever.

[Doug]

Idiot kids.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Those. Well, kids. And that's something that we need to be more mindful of. I don't want to do episodes that are just for married people, and I don't want to do episodes that are just for single people. I want to do episodes that we can all learn from, but making sure that we're looping everybody in, including everything. Because as an example, Michelle, when it comes to insurances, the reason you have insurance 99 of the time, the reason you have insurance OG is to protect the people that are left when you pass away. So to Michelle's point, if she's single and nobody's relying on her for this money coming in, there's not an insurance need.

[OG]

I think it's good feedback, and we'll just have to be a little bit more mindful of the fact that, you know, using our anecdotal stories are helpful to a lot of people. But then also maybe just throw in a little bit about if you're this type of person or if you're this type of person.

[Doug]

We could go back. You've got some amazing stories from when you were in the service, when you were single. OG that are.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I don't think we've got any of those. Okay, on that note, thank you for the note.

[OG]

For the record, I was never single in the service. Mrs. Og would tell you that I. There's never a single time in the.

[Doug]

Service, and you still did those things. Oh, my God.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, man. Oh, boy.

[OG]

He's kidding everyone. I am a trustworthy young man.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

How come you don't come at him like you came at me? Why would you just honor.

[OG]

Your honor.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Don't. Don't know how.

[OG]

Because I have as many skeletons of Doug's in the closet that I can reveal. He knows. It's like, you know the concept where we both have nuclear arms pointed at each other in Russia.

[Doug]

Mutual destruction.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, geez. Like, you want to go here? Do you really want to go?

[OG]

We can play this game if you want. It's going to end badly for both. Moscow and D.C. are annihilated.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

How far down this rabbit hole do you want to go?

[OG]

Yeah, I'm going to go for a walk, fellas. What do you think about that plan?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Going for a walk?

[OG]

Yeah. Yeah. Are we? Are we? I feel like we're wrapping it up. I think we'll let you know what I'm going to do next.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Well, that's exactly. Oh, gee. What I want to say before it starts raining. Right?

[OG]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Doug, what should we have learned on today's show?

[Doug]

Well, Joe, first, take some advice from our headline. You should always expect downturns in the market hedging against it that'll go sideways in a hurry, just to be clear.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Because there's tons of danger, Doug.

[Doug]

It's so, so dangerous. Unless you can predict the future. And here's a tip, you can't. Second, choosing the one size fits all fund. Maybe. But it's always better to begin with the end in mind and choose funds based on your goal, not on ease of management. But is a single dimensional or Avantis fund fund a good idea? It can be. But the big lesson, don't ask Joe's mom who her favorite astronaut is. She'll share a story about my favorite pair of chaps that we'd have to delete from this podcast. It's a family show, Ma. How many times you have to tell you?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh.

[Doug]

This show is the property of SB Podcasts, LLC, Copyright 2025, and is created by Joe Saul Sehive. Joe gets help from a few of our neighborhood friends. You'll find out about our awesome [e-mail] along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, yeah.

[Doug]

And before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don't take advice from people you don't know. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. And we'll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin show.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Welcome to the after show, man. I'm looking at the after show agenda. Guys, this is going to be. This is going to be a pacifier. Yeah. Well, let's start off because you two guys have been playing. We've actually. We haven't talked about video games in a while. Doug, you and our friend Eric have been playing some golf lately. And you guys have been schooling. You guys. Basically kicking my ass.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

On the golf course.

[Doug]

So fun.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yes.

[Doug]

I love playing that. It's a great social game to play because you can have a great conversation. You know, there's enough action to keep you occupied and focused on the game, but really, you can just hang out and talk.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That's. That's really all we're doing, sharing what's going on with our families.

[Doug]

And yeah, yeah, Eric and I have a great time. And you're there, too.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You guys are there to. It's funny because after nine holes, I'm losing so bad. We play skins, which means you try to win the hole.

[Doug]

And I was naked and I'm not supposed to.

[OG]

I was just gonna say that's a different game that Doug plays.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I thought skins referred to. Oh, my bad.

[OG]

Doug's like, I lose again.

[Doug]

Stop it, boys.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

The holes become worth more and more as you push on a hole as people tie. But after nine holes, I always. Both times we've done that, Doug, I've gone, okay, nine holes in. I'm not winning. I should probably go get more to drink because that's going to help.

[Doug]

Yes. That's when the words start slurring.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yes.

[Doug]

So we've had a great time playing that.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And then you and OG have played some Sniper Elite.

[Doug]

Sniper Elite came out with a stop gap called Sniper Elite Resistance. And it's a stopgap because Sniper Elite 6 is taking so long to get developed that they. And there was a lot of demand in the marketplace for something new, so they farmed out to some other publishing company, development studio, like the ip, I guess it's almost like, I don't know, they gave him the engine and, you know, and all the other stuff, but they farmed out the. The level design and a little bit of the story, and it's really just Sniper Elite 5 with, like, I think it's six new maps. Is that right, OG something like that.

[OG]

I mean, there's a lot of similarities. I know that there's like, when you play again, you're like, this feels a lot. Something from the previous game.

[Doug]

Well, yeah, there's eight levels on seven new maps. You actually go back to the first map again within the same game. But it's just fun, right? I mean, it's all the same stuff. It's not groundbreaking, but it's just a fun game.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I couldn't stop dying in that game. I was on the original map out by the farmhouse. It was like a farmhouse. There's a bunch of Germans inside, and I'm hiding in the grass, and those jerks find me. Those damn Nazis find me every time. And I end up on the wrong side of the sniper.

[Doug]

I'm surprised actually, because you're good at the stealth games. Like, I know you want to talk about Indiana Jones and I couldn't finish that. And you, you nailed it and you loved it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It sounds like Indiana Jones was just too open world for what you like, Doug.

[Doug]

Well, that's true. Yeah, it's very open world. And I don't like it when there's no clear path to get me from point A to, you know, plot point A to plot point B. Indiana Jones.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

For me felt like playing a movie, but it was very. You can just go off course and go try to find these things, these hidden things. A lot of puzzles in the game, not a lot of head to head confrontation. If you've got to fire your gun, every other Nazi on the level is going to hear the gun go off and you're dead immediately. Like I tried to fire my gun maybe three different times and next thing you know I've got 12 people on top of me and I'm done.

[Doug]

I just noticed a common theme about both of these games and why we like them. Do you get to mess with Nazis?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, it's so fun.

[OG]

It is so Nazis.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah. But it's a good time. You will say this about Indiana Jones, Doug, which is the dude that does the voice. So they license, oh my God, Harrison Ford's likeness. So it looks like Harrison Ford. And then the dude that does his voice is brilliant.

[Doug]

I was shocked when you told me that. I thought they used like AI. They had some voice samplings from Harrison Ford and then just used an AI engine to generate all the dialogue because it is spot on. It's really good.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

So, so, so good. So Sniper Elite and Indiana Jones, a couple good games last week. Oh gee, we were talking about Reacher. Neither you nor I had seen the last episode of Reacher on either the Monday or Wednesday show. So let's finish that up. Did you watch the Conclusion?

[OG]

Yeah, I. I got. I was two episodes behind, so I got to watch 7 and 8 kind of back to back, which was good.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah. The conclusion, the fight with Paulie, really.

[OG]

Good action sequence takes a long time.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It takes a long time. So Paulie, Doug is this huge security guard. Just this monster.

[Doug]

I'm going to watch this. Do I want to? Should I take my headphone out? Do I want to hear this now?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

This will be spoiler free. You know, in episode one. Oh, gee, this isn't giving anything away. In episode one, you know, there's going to be a fight between Reacher and Paulie, like there's gotta be.

[OG]

Or you're reachers, whatever. In real life, the actor Adam Richson is what, 6:3 is huge. 265. 6:4, 265.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I think he's 6:13.

[Doug]

6:13.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah.

[OG]

Now he's probably 6:2 or 6:3, but he's a big man. Paulie towers over this dude. It's not even like. It'd be like Doug standing next to like a 10U pitcher, you know, just. You're just such a girth of a man compared to this, you know?

[Doug]

Yes, I am.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Which is why Doug likes to stand next to 10 year olds every chance he gets.

[OG]

Which is why Doug hangs out with 10. There's candy in the van.

[Doug]

Oh my God.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

No, no, no favorable comparisons though. Favorable? Look at me. Look how big I am compared to the ten year old. Yeah. Reach your season three, Doug.

[Doug]

So worth it. I should watch it. Sounds like you guys went all the way through it.

[OG]

Yeah, I liked it. I mean it's very formulaic now. I think season one was still the best. I don't remember much from season two. This one was also okay. But it's a very. I didn't think you get a sense. I don't think any of them sucked. They're very popcorny, you know, like, okay, I get to go watch reach or kick somebody's ass. And it's kind of fun. It's cool.

[Doug]

My favorite part about all of that is not you guys have even mentioned it. It's the dialogue. It's the witty, like straight laced lines that he gets to deliver to make people look stupid.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Richardson said that in an interview that, you know, an action film is an action film is an action film, Doug. And at its core, it could be kind of boring. Right. He said 100% of the fun for him was playing that character and being able to look scans or being able to do something that. That is a hilarious line. Or just the way he's able to say the line in a monotone voice he's like trying to come up with. That was the whole fun for him of being in that role?

[Doug]

I believe it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Versus being 285 and you know, just.

[OG]

Ripped, jacked and tan.

[Doug]

Yeah, because I'm ripped and amazing every day in real life. But when I get to act, I can be smart too.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I know. Reacher, go watch it or go play Sniper Elite or Indiana Jones or PGA Golf.

[Doug]

All right, I have to belch. Okay. Keep that. Keep that in Steve.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

No, do not keep that in Steve.

[Doug]

Fine, I'll do It again. Not scared there. Nice.

[OG]

Your turn, Joe.

[Doug]

Nice. It's an after. After show, Steve.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

God, no. Please, God. Let's go.

[OG]

Let's have some audio of my prep tomorrow.

[Doug]

Oh, that prep. Yeah. Okay. Three, two, one. Live from Joe's mom's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin Show. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. And with all the talk about tariffs and trade wars and consumer buying slowdowns, how do you effectively hedge against all of this volatility? Whether you're new to investing or a seasoned pro, we'll talk about smoothing out your ride in the stock market on today's show. Plus, we'll help stacker Ryan decide between using a diversified portfolio or a single fund that combines the best of all worlds. Why not just keep investing simple? I think I said why not.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Why not?

[Doug]

Why not?

[OG]

Your mom asked.

[Doug]

3, 2, 1. Why not just keep investing simple? All that, plus our world. You talk, you go ahead. I'm sure it's good. Go ahead.

[OG]

No, it's just simply. It'd be an adverb. Simple is an adjective.

[Doug]

Why not just keep it? Keep investing simply.

[OG]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Why not keep it simple? Why not keep it simply?

[Doug]

No, that's incorrect.

[OG]

Simply. Why not keep simply as an adverb? I know investing is the verb. Keep investing.

[Doug]

Investing is a. Is a noun clause. I think in this case. Why not just keep. Keep is the verb. Why not just keep? My 3, 2, 1.

[OG]

Depends on what you're modifying. Are we trying to modify the word investing or the word keep? Are we trying to keep simply or investing simple?

[Doug]

We could just simply keep on investing.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We could just simply do it the way it's written, not worry about it.

[Doug]

We should go back to belching. So much more entertaining. 3, 2, 1. I have to do it again, don't I? I'm afraid he's going to jump in again when I do it. 3, 2, 1. Why not just keep investing simple? All that, plus our world famous TikTok minute and yours truly's world. That's a screwed up sentence.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yours truly's. Yours be truly truly.

[Doug]

You couldn't have waited to edit that one, Josh?

[OG]

Oh, no. I've. I've been put in my place.