The SpaceX IPO Wasn't for You (and that's actually fine) SB1858

Summary

The Stacking Benjamins Show: "The SpaceX IPO Wasn't for You (and that's actually fine)" (SB1858) June 22, 2026 | Hosts: Joe Saul-Sehy & Josh “OG” Bannerman, CFP | Special Guest: Anna Allum | Guest Appearances by Doug and Anna

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Episode Overview

This lively episode dives into the blockbuster SpaceX IPO—now the largest in history—unpacking what really happens when a company like SpaceX "goes public," why regular investors rarely have access to the IPO “pop,” and why that's actually okay. In trademark Stacking Benjamins fashion, Joe, OG, and Doug mix humor, practical finance advice, and real talk about FOMO, index investing, and IPO realities. They also delve into college savings basics, featuring a step-by-step college planning segment with OG and Anna Allum.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Setting the Stage: SpaceX IPO Hype & Headlines

• [03:27] – [08:14]
  • Doug opens with: “Two weeks ago SpaceX went public and rewrote the record books, becoming the largest IPO in history… Did you miss out on the world's greatest investment? How do IPOs work anyway? We can answer the latter two.”
  • Joe begins the roundtable: Headlines everywhere focus on SpaceX’s record-shattering debut ($75 billion raised, more than doubling the previous record, Saudi Aramco).
  • OG jokes about inflation: “A billion is just the starting point now… Remember Brewster’s Millions? $30 million used to seem huge!”
  • Musks’s instant trillionaire status & SpaceX immediately becoming the 6th most valuable US company is highlighted.

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2. The IPO "Miss-Out" Myth

• [10:53] – [21:49]
  • Doug candidly shares: “I don’t think there’s ever been a time where I thought, ‘gotta get in on that [after a big pop].’” He stresses the importance of research, not knee-jerk reactions to news.
  • Joe clarifies that the touted “20% IPO pop” is often “an illusion” for regular investors: “If you were a retail investor, that price…wasn’t a price you could get.” Most allocations went to institutional investors or those with special access.
  • OG underscores how most people only see the returns AFTER the insiders—those who took big, early risks—have already cashed in:

    “The people who invested in this company that got those returns invested before you knew it was a company.” (14:16)

  • They discuss the lottery-like odds of finding the next SpaceX and how, for every huge winner, there are countless IPOs and startups that never deliver.
  • Joe notes: “If it’s truly life-changing money for you, that’s all the more reason you shouldn’t take the risk—if it goes sideways, you’re gambling money you can’t afford to lose.” (20:35)
  • OG’s analogy: “It’s like an auction...All the institutional investors end up celebrating a monster win because they have resources and connections that get them in pre-IPO.” (23:06)

Notable Quotes:

• OG, on FOMO and getting in late:

  “For every SpaceX, there’s a thousand not-SpaceXs. Odds are pretty against you.” (18:55)

• Joe:

  “For most of us, that 20% gain is just a headline. You only had access after the price had already jumped.” (13:32)

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3. How IPO Shares Actually Work

• [13:58] – [21:49]
  • “The IPO price is usually set well below where the market actually trades the shares to allow for that big pop. But almost no regular investors get that price.” (Joe, 13:32)
  • OG details the mechanics: Unless you’re a privileged institutional investor, allocations for big-name IPOs are minuscule for everyday people—e.g., requesting $100,000, getting an allocation for $3,000.
  • The chances of regular investors getting in on the truly "life-changing" returns are very remote.

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4. What If You “Missed Out”? Index Funds to the Rescue

• [23:53] – [29:58]
  • Joe and OG explain how, even if you didn’t buy SpaceX directly, you’ll likely end up owning shares through indexes like the NASDAQ or, eventually, the S&P 500.
    • NASDAQ will add SpaceX quickly under a "fast entry provision" (15 trading days post-IPO).
    • S&P 500 demands a year of trading history and four profitable quarters, so SpaceX might take longer to join.
  • New ETFs are already springing up to cater to IPO/space hype, warning against buying into thematic funds just for “fear of missing out.”

Notable Quotes:

• OG, on index funds and market timing:

  "It's easier to let the market work... don't try to predict which individual position is going to outperform. Just kind of own one of everything." (24:06)

• Joe:

  “If you have index funds, you own Google. And if SpaceX continues to win, then you’ll own SpaceX...” (37:54)

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5. FOMO, Hype, and Investor Psychology

• [29:58] – [37:54]
  • OG recounts the cannabis ETF bubble as an example of hype misleading investors: “Everyone was screening for the word cannabis, not actual fundamentals.”
  • Joe tells the story of losing money on a hyped cannabis stock: “It was great, ‘till it wasn’t. The minute the hype collapsed, it blew right out of my portfolio.”
  • OG discusses how even industry giants aren’t forever (“Bezos expects Amazon not to exist by 2040”).
  • The lesson: focus on long-term fundamentals and time in the market instead of chasing newsy opportunities, which rarely work out for regular investors.

Notable Quotes:

• OG, on luck vs. skill:

  “God forbid you’re actually right once or twice, because then you’ll mistake your luck for some sort of magic crystal ball.” (29:58)

• Joe:

  “A company can do great things for humanity… but if it’s not a well-run profitable company, no one’s going to invest for long.” (33:34)

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6. Key Takeaways: Focus on What You Can Control

• [37:47] – [37:54]
  • Joe summarizes: The real financial lesson isn’t about whether you “missed” SpaceX, but whether your portfolio is consistently focused on your goals, in a way that works reliably—and with as little angst as possible.

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College Planning Basics (with OG & Anna Allum)

• [43:41] – [57:16]

Highlights & Step-by-Step Advice

Segment Overview: Anna and OG walk listeners through a practical, realistic approach to planning for college costs, demystifying the process and reducing stress.

1. Understanding the Cost

• Anna: “Looking at what four years will cost in future value is scary! But we’ll hold your hand.”
• Step 1: Start with today’s dollar cost for four years (published by schools).
• Step 2: Add 5% annual inflation to that figure to estimate the future value.
• Step 3: Calculate the gap: Subtract what you’ll have saved (with projected returns) from the target, to determine how much you really need to save.

2. Family Decision-Making

• OG: “Now’s the time to talk realistically with your family. Do you want to cover all, some, or none? Every plan is valid, but make it consciously.”

3. Monthly Savings Targets

• Use the many online 529 calculators to determine what you need to save monthly based on your gap.
• If the number is daunting, revisit your goals and assumptions—consider cash flowing some costs during college.

4. Glidepath & Investment Approach

• As your child gets closer to college, reduce risk by moving savings into cash or fixed income (25% each year of high school; 100% in safe assets by senior year).
• Many age-based 529 plans do this automatically, but check their schedule aligns with your needs.

5. Special Pro Tips

• 529s allow “superfunding”: You can gift 5 years’ worth of the annual limit at once if you have the means.
• OG: “FAFSA is a five-letter word everyone hates, but you need to do it—even wealthy families—to unlock loans and scholarships.”

6. New Flexibility

• New tax law: Unused 529 funds can (with many rules) be rolled into a Roth IRA for the child after 15 years.

Notable Quotes:

• Anna:

  “There’s no bad part of saving now and planning for it to actually cost something.” (45:07)

• OG:

  "We're trying to establish a time when life isn't stressful... You're going to make [this decision] at some point. Better to do it ahead of time." (51:43)

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Fun & Memorable Moments

Saluting the Troops (01:25)

Joe: “Because on behalf of the men and women making podcast [sic] in Mom's basement and the men and women stacking Benjamins across the world, thank you to our troops helping keep us safe another weekend.”

Meryl Streep Trivia (39:32)

• Doug hosts a trivia segment honoring Meryl Streep’s 21 Oscar nominations and three wins.

OG’s Burned Hand Analogy (29:58)

OG: “Sometimes you got to touch the hot stove to remember that the stove is hot…Did it when I was four, did it again at 48. Guess what? Now I’m hyper-vigilant around the stove.”

Index Funds & Stress Relief

OG: “Let the market work. Don’t try to predict winners. Just own a piece of everything.” (24:06)

Memorable Takeaway

Joe: “The real lesson isn't whether SpaceX wins. It’s focusing on the controllables—your savings rate, asset allocation, and end goal.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:27 – Show topic introduction: SpaceX IPO hype
• 08:14 – Scale of SpaceX’s IPO compared to other historic IPOs
• 10:53 – Did you actually miss out? How the “IPO pop” works
• 13:32 – Real mechanics: Who really benefits from IPO gains
• 18:55 – Lottery odds and the risks of chasing IPOs
• 24:06 – How SpaceX (and other IPOs) enter index funds
• 29:58 – Investor psychology, thematic ETFs, and the “hot stove” lesson
• 33:34 – Learning from losses: Joe’s cannabis stock story
• 37:54 – Long-term investing vs. FOMO
• 43:41 – College planning segment begins
• 45:07 – Why it pays to save for college even if you “won’t need it”
• 51:43 – Decision-making about family contribution & monthly savings
• 54:09 – Age-based glidepath for 529 plan investments
• 56:59 – Rolling unused 529 funds into a Roth IRA under new rules

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Key Takeaways

What should you have learned today? (65:22 - Doug’s Recap)

1. SpaceX IPO: It was a big, historic event, but you’ll probably end up owning it in your index funds. No need to call your shot.
2. College Planning: Take it one step at a time, start as early as possible (or now), and focus on planning for what you control.
3. Big Financial Lesson: Don’t get fixated on missing out. Focus on the reliable, repeatable moves that get you to your own goals.

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Final Thoughts

The episode blends humor, practical financial wisdom, and healthy skepticism about trendy investment news. The hosts reinforce the importance of ignoring market hype, trusting data and time-tested investing strategies (like index funds), and focusing on clear, stepwise planning for big goals—everything from college to retirement. And as always, it’s delivered with the signature warmth, wit, and everyday language that make Stacking Benjamins a standout in personal finance podcasts.

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• Subscribe to the newsletter: stackingbenjamins.com/201
• Explore the guides or try out Scout, their AI guide assistant: stackingbenjamins.com/guides

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“The best lesson isn’t whether you ‘missed’ SpaceX or Google—but whether your money habits reliably get you where you want to go.” – Joe Saul-Sehy (37:54)

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Transcript

[Joe]

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[Sponsor Voice]

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[Joe]

Gentlemen, it's Monday and you know what that means. We get to drink podcasting. We can drink coffee, water. It's 5am Doug, what are you doing?

[Doug]

Polar. Polar Seltzer Joe. Puts a little pep in your step.

[Joe]

I actually do have just some water because as oh gee just found out, it's nasty word to call somebody a Disney adult. But we maybe own it anyway.

[OG]

Didn't know it was a bad thing.

[Joe]

I didn't know it either. Still going to own that thing. You know what else we're going to own? We're going to own the fact that we salute our troops at the beginning of each week. So raise your mugs, everybody raising. Because on behalf of the men and women making podcast in Mom's basement and the men and women stacking Benjamin across the world, thank you to our troops helping keep us safe another weekend. And I know your men and women are all working triple overtime lately, so here's to you. Let's go stack some Benjamins.

[Doug]

Thanks everybody.

[Joe]

And now we're pleased to bring you our feature presentation.

[Doug]

Live from Joe's mom's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin Show. I'm Joe's mom's Neighbor, Doug, and two weeks ago SpaceX went public and rewrote the record books, becoming the largest IPO in history. Joe's mom's angry because we didn't empty your coin jar into SpaceX stuff. First, who keeps a coin jar anymore? And second, did you miss out on the world's greatest Investment? How do IPOs work anyway? While we can't answer the first question without upsetting the boss, we can answer the latter two. Plus Anna Allum and OG are back with their guide to the basics. Today they're talking college planning. Where do you start? They'll share some ideas and. And then speaking of sharing, I'll also share some celebrity themed trivia. It's one big star's birthday today and we'll ask about her illustrious career. And now two guys who you think of when you think illustrious podcast hosts. It's Joe and. Oh, Jaja.

[Joe]

Jaja G. Hey there, Stackers. And Happy Monday to you. It's always fun hearing Doug's open and we got a fun show to match Doug. Because you're right, man. I mean, college planning and IPOs, SpaceX all in the same show. Somebody bench me.

[Doug]

Yeah, Might as well be at Disney.

[OG]

If you had done the SpaceX IPO, you wouldn't have to do college planning.

[Joe]

There it is. You missed it and the show's over. Doug, what should we have learned today? Yeah, great, great show. Obviously, all the headlines the past couple weeks have been on this one Little Company, but, you know, somehow came out of nowhere. Yeah, nobody saw this coming at all. But a lot of people today going, wait, should I have? I told you guys the story. Mom did. Mom did ask, why didn't you put my money into SpaceX? She asked me that. I was like, what are you talking about, Mom? Come on. So we're going to talk about how this whole IPO thing works. We're going to talk about what made this IPO different. We're going to break it all down for you. So if you're not sure really what's been going on, you're going to have it by the end of today's episode. We have a couple sponsors who help us keep on keeping on. We're going to hear from them first and then we're going to dive into SpaceX. We'll start with this. If you ask me how I take notes in a meeting, I will tell you who. I think you should take notes. Not just how I take notes. The way I take notes is way different than it used to be. You should do it too. I don't know why anybody would do it any other way. It's this wonderful, magical program called Granola. I can't tell you how much I like. Can we talk about granola? People get on me about talking about my pants. I'm glad you don't get on me about note taking because I love that Granola goes into every meeting with me and you already know, like you're in back to back meetings. You got no idea what you said you'd remember half the meeting. You're not sure what the to do list is. And when you get done and you're finally sorting it out and you're putting it all either into your calendar, whatever your system might be, you're like, what was I supposed to do? What did I ask them to do? The three months later you go, oh, I completely forgot that we were supposed to do that. Granola gets rid of all that. It's incredible.

[Sponsor Voice]

What is it?

[Joe]

Granola is an AI powered notepad built for the way real people actually meet. You take rough notes like you normally would in the background. Granola is securely transcribing the entire meeting. Then it turns everything into clean, structured, actually useful notes when the meeting ends. The best part? It works through your device's audio. So guess how much downloading you got to do? None. Nothing. It integrates seamlessly into the video conferencing tools you already use. There's no setup, no awkward bots. It's just your normal meeting with superpowers. You get to listen. Isn't that shocking? Instead of frantically typing every word and still walk away knowing exactly what was decided, who's doing what, what comes next. I am obviously a huge fan. If meetings are eating up your day too, Granola is a no brainer. You can try it totally free by heading to Granola AI sb. Go to Granola AI SP and get your time back. Once again, try for free at Granola AI sp. In business, there is no room for guesswork. Every shipment matters, every deadline counts. And when you're trying to keep operations running smoothly, the last thing you need is uncertainty. That's why reliability is at the core of USPS Ground Advantage. For the moment your package is first scanned in, it moves through a secure nationwide network, aiding in a timely and accurate delivery. You get near real time tracking so you can keep up with your shipments. And with affordable upfront pricing, there are no hidden fees or surprise surcharges to throw off your cost sheets. It all adds up to predictable deliveries you can depend on. Because knowing your logistics are handled lets you focus on everything else. Your customers, your team, and the future you're building. Visit USPS.com ground advantage to start shipping with confidence. USPS ground advantage we mean business. Let's go over some numbers guys around the SpaceX IPO. They raised 75 billion with a B. Can we just say gajillion $75 gajillion dollars?

[Doug]

And haven't we reached a point now where with inflation, we don't have to specify with a B anymore? Isn't that now the starting point for wow. Like, million. Whatever.

[Joe]

That's cool.

[Doug]

That's like in the, in the 90s. Whoa. Million.

[Joe]

I know.

[Doug]

$70 million.

[Joe]

Brewster's million. Because how many millions did Brewster have back in the 80s?

[OG]

Like, 300.

[Joe]

300 million. Like that was. You remember, you can't spend all that money now. That's like a starting point, right?

[OG]

Well, you only had to spend 3. 30. His task was to spend 30. 30.

[Joe]

Spend 30 of the. Oh, because he didn't know or. No, he couldn't tell anybody that he was getting a lot more. That's right. Well, that debut more than doubled the previous record, which was held by Saudi aramco. That raised $25.6 billion back in 2019. That had been the record holder. So you've got other tech and E commerce debuts. Listen to this. Alibaba, back in 2014, raised 25 billion. Of course, you know, if you think about inflation, what was going on in 2014? That 25 billion number is, is, is bigger. Of course, you got Facebook and meta in 2012 at 16 billion. And while those stats are impressive, listen to this one. The $75 billion that SpaceX raised by going public exceeded the combined total of roughly $36 billion. Which were the other 71 IPOs that had happened. 71 IPOs together, 36 billion. One does 70. $75 billion. So, man, just incredible. Course, the personal wealth impact. CEO Elon Musk becomes the world's first trillionaire. And immediately SpaceX is the sixth most valuable company in the United States. And by the way, you know what number seven is?

[OG]

Lucky no.

[Joe]

Six is SpaceX, seven is Tesla.

[Doug]

Oh, of course.

[Joe]

Yeah. Imagine, you know, it's almost like that Brian Regan skit, Doug, the one where somebody's bragging and they don't know they're talking to John Glenn and John, and the guy's like, yeah, I've got my boat and I traveled to the Maldives or whatever. And the guy's like, yeah, I walked on the moon, sit next to Elon Musk. Oh, yeah, I got the sixth and seventh biggest companies in the United States that are mine. So that's how big this thing was. If you missed it, shares jumped nearly 20% on day one. The question I think a lot of stackers might be asking themselves is, did I miss it? So, Doug, if you wake up and Discover SpaceX already up 20%, what's your move?

[Doug]

Well, I mean, probably nothing. I mean, we've all seen stocks regardless of what the dollar figure is per share, we've all seen that every day There's a headline of which stock had a big bump that day. And I don't think there's ever been a time where I thought, got to get in on that. Now, if I'd done some research and thought, well, it's at 50 today and because it just went up 20%, but I think it's worth 75, maybe it's a good idea to still get in.

[Joe]

Think about Friday nights at the Sizzler. That buys you.

[Doug]

Right, right. 75 bucks.

[Joe]

Think about what you can do with the El Camino on that.

[Doug]

Yeah, yeah, you can fill up half the tank in the El Camino on that.

[Joe]

Rotate all the air in the tires.

[Doug]

Right. But, yeah, I mean, I'm probably not doing it. In reality, I'm probably not doing anything. Unless I'd been eyeing it, I'd done a bunch of research and still felt like, man, it's, it's not at its peak yet and I've still got some room there, but otherwise I may not do anything.

[Joe]

But it's funny, we talk about research, and I'm glad you brought that up because, oh, gee, you think about research, you think about an IPO and you also think about this FOMO, 20% in one day. Is this exactly how people lose money?

[OG]

Well, I mean, if you would have bought it, if it was up, you know, whatever, when you got an option to buy it, you know, on the, on the open market, you're still profitable as of the day. We're recording this. So, yeah, you did miss out on some. But that could be said. I think what Doug was saying is that could be said for any stock. Just about any stock you could find one that's done well today and gone, oh, dang it, I should have put some money in that. I. I knew that was going to go up. I heard about that. Or alternatively, one that goes down, which you can bet on stocks going down, too. You just say, I knew that one was going to go down. I should have done this. I think it's really rough to see all the stuff that goes on or that's gone on, I should say, about SpaceX in particular, if you weren't part of it, and say, hey, how come this isn't me? How did I not be one of these 4400 people that became instant millionaires or one of these, I don't know what the number was, 400 people that became insta sentimillionaires or how come I didn't put $40 million of my own cash into this and turn it into $30 billion valuation. And the part that we have to remember with all of these success stories or at least the period of time that we're recording this, it looks like to be a success story for this little sliver of a week or whatever, it's been the people who invested in this company that got those returns invested before you knew it was a company.

[Joe]

Yeah, can we go there? Because I think this is the important thing for people to know the IPO price, when you saw every outlet on earth say the price went up 20%. If you were retail investor, that price, which was, by the way, $135 is what it was priced at most. People didn't get that price. OG the 20% for 99.9% of us was an illusion. It wasn't a price that you could get.

[OG]

Well, you know, you think about the old school vision that you have of the stock market, you know, with the guys yelling and back and forth in the hand and arm signals and that sort of thing. And that's the pricing mechanism, right? It's like if you need a whole bunch of it, you know you're going to drive the price down. If you want a whole bunch of it, you're going to drive the price up. And so, you know, this is this thing that goes back and forth now. Take away all the people and turn that into technology that can instantly price it based on the supply and demand, right? Very close to instantly, within milliseconds. And so the pricing Mechanism of the IPO at 135 was set by the bankers, was set by the consulting division that figured this all out and said we think we'll get a lot of, we'll get a lot of people interested in buying this at this price. And then once it gets put on the public market once, once you or I can get it without having to have special privileges to get, then it's just supply and demand. It's, it's just like every other stock. And you know, the first trade to your point, I don't even know what it was, but I'm guessing the first minute it was available, it wasn't available at 135 anymore. Was probably available at 165.

[Joe]

So very specifically why does that happen

[OG]

is because there's a lot of people lined up at the, queued up at the door and there's only so many TVs at Walmart. And so the, the people rush in to try to get it and will pay whatever to get it when it's public now that you can trade it. But even that isn't a big win. I mean, look, if you put a hundred grand in SpaceX, you made $20,000. Good for you. Hell, if you put a hundred thousand in, maybe it's up 40% since then. You know, by the time you're listening to this, you made 40 grand. If you put a million dollars in it and you made $400,000 or 200, like that's not zero. None of those are life changing dollar amounts for most people thinking about financial independence. Right? If you apply that logic or that, that number to, you know, your safe withdrawal rate, blah blah, blah, blah. Say it's 5%. Yeah, you might. You, if you put a million bucks in space it for a million four, you maybe added another $20,000 a year to your lifestyle. Well, that's not zero, right? I mean, I think we'd all agree 20 grand, you know, like, like Doug always says, 20 bucks is 20 bucks

[Doug]

and not a lot I won't do for that.

[OG]

That's well documented. The reality is, is that I don't think that your lifestyle changes that profoundly if you had an extra 20 grand. I just don't, I just don't think that's the case. Now. Where the big money was made was the person who invested $10 million in their private office, you know, from their private foundation or whatever, like frigging back in 2012, that guy now has a billion. You know, I think there's a new story about the University of Michigan endowment. Bought in at something like $40 million and now has a position worth 2 billion. You know, sometime in the last whatever series of raise they, they were at when they put in their money, you know, you know, they've had that money locked up in an illiquid investment that, let's go back in time in 2012 or 2013 or 2015, Tesla wasn't doing so great. It's not like that was like an amazing. And now we got this dude who's barely selling cars, talking about putting people on Mars and rocket ships and satellites in outer space and you know, people are going, what are we doing?

[Doug]

Freaking lasers.

[OG]

I'm gonna knock on your door as a financial advisor and go, hey Joe, here's a great idea. Let's take 20% of your net worth and invest it in this idea. What would you have said?

[Joe]

I'd say no way.

[OG]

Go pound sand, man. Like no one would do that. You have to recognize when you see these big stories, how much either cojones or extra money you had to have had even if you had the ability to get in. Bitcoin's another great example. Oh man, I wish I would have put my money in Bitcoin. Oh my God, I have so much money. Right, because you were going to put your money into a computer program in 2009. That was the thing that you thought would be a good idea. No, you didn't. No one thought that. Which is why the person who did was rewarded exponentially. That's the trade. But for every 1 space X there's 1000 non SpaceX. You know, and this story is going to repeat itself a couple more times this year with Anthropic and OpenAI also. But it's very hard. I know. Look, I'm human. I look at it too and go, dang, I wish I would have had the foresight to get in on SpaceX some point in time with all of my money sometime 10 years ago. Which by the way, all of my money was about 90% less than I have today, you know, so it's like again, would I have done what I've mortgaged my house to put 100 grand in SpaceX? Probably not.

[Joe]

Well, and you look at you, you talk about how for every SpaceX there's so many not SpaceX. I want to go back to that stat I shared at the beginning. The $75 billion they raised was more than double the other 71 IPOs that happened this year. So there were literally OG71 other ones that did not do. And, and if you're sitting there looking for the next IPO going, well, I think this can be the next base X, it's giving you the next thing odds. Odds are pretty against you.

[OG]

Well, and, and again, back to the pricing mechanism of it. If you go, well, I'm going to get in on the anthropic one. I'm not going to let two of these go by. Okay, fine. Call up your broker, tell when anthropic lists and they do all this stuff that open or that SpaceX did, you will, you can go to Schwab, you can go to, you know, E Trade, you go to all these brokerage, you can go to your financial planner and say, hey, get me in line. You know what I heard? I heard people got allocations of about 2 to 3% of what they said. So you will say, hey, I want to buy, you know, $100,000 of Space X. Right? I'm going to buy, you know, it's $135 a share on buy a thousand shares. 135,000. You'll get an email the day before and say you got 17. Okay. I mean, cool. Are, are we making life changing money on 17 shares? We're making life changing money on the thousand shares. It's not happening. So the life changing money already happened. You know what I mean? It happened from the guy who put in a hundred thousand dollars in anthropic before you knew it existed. So don't stress yourself out about this. It's just not a thing.

[Joe]

Well, I do want to circle back to one thing that you said because you say it's not life changing money. And I think my, my standpoint would be it might be life changing money. There might be people that are listening to us where they're like, dude, this would be life changing money. And I think we have to double down on the fact that if it is life changing money to you to have $20,000 more per year added to your lifestyle, triple the reason why you shouldn't do it just because, oh gee, the risk factor is so high. If it's life changing money, then the chance that this is not going to be SpaceX the rears its ugly head even more. And now you took a gamble with money that you could not afford to gamble. And an IPO more than anything is a gamble because until the IPO time you have very little public information about what the profitability is. We'll get into that more later. But you very little information to basis on. All you've got is a bunch of hype.

[OG]

Well, early on, early, early on, like pre IPO when they're raising capital and you're getting, you know, pre IPO shares and that sort of thing, you have even less. You have a, you have a vision, you have an idea of what you think this might turn into based on a sales pitch by a founder. But even when you get the IPO stuff.

[Sponsor Voice]

Yeah.

[OG]

You know, you have a few days to realize it. And I think what you're saying there is really important. I'm not saying that the people who, you know, there's all the stories of the cashiers and the construction guy and the, you know, cafeteria person who all of a sudden have a million dollars, you know, became millionaires. I'm not saying that's not life changing. It is. I'm saying that if you took all of your money and invested it at 135 in Space X and then took that, if you could get it and you sold it 20% up, the Delta is not life changing. And I don't even care if you're

[Joe]

not gonna change what you do day by day.

[OG]

Listen, somebody can argue with me and go, no, you don't understand. 20 grand is life changing for me. I'm not saying $20,000 is not a lot of money. Do not misread that. I'm saying it is. I'm just saying you're not gonna do anything different in your life. You're not gonna do anything different. And the risk, I think what you're saying that I'm not saying, which I think is really important also, is in order to get that, you had to put all your money up, you had to take all your million dollars, assuming that you could do it and literally be like, I'm going to put all of this in this one thing and pray God I make 20 grand a year extra versus, you know, just investing it normally and it'll go up on its own. You don't have to just let it do it, don't have to stress out.

[Joe]

The big thing to know here is, and this is why I went back and asked, I'm like, can you go through that even slower? I want you to replay it. I'm glad you did. The fact that this is, this is like an auction, there's so many people on the buy side that the auctioneer, the market gets to keep going up and up and up and up and up. And so the mostly institutional investors end up celebrating a monster win because they have resources and connections that get them in pre ipo. The weirdest part about this, though. Oh, gee. And I don't know if this is good news or bad news, even if you're somebody going, you know, I don't care about SpaceX, I don't want any part of this thing. Here's the question, OG can SpaceX still end up in my portfolio?

[OG]

Well, yes, but you don't have any choice over that matter. I mean, you kind of do maybe.

[Joe]

Yeah. This is where it gets pretty wild. So you missed out. You might not have missed out, you might still have it in your portfolio. How does that work?

[OG]

OG I think the other way to look at this is even if you don't want it, you're still going to get some, unless you are very actively trying to avoid it, which very few people are. And honestly, this is part of the whole purpose of the way that we invest money and the way that we teach you guys how to invest money and try to invest money ourselves is it's easier just to say, let the market work. Let the market forces work in your favor and don't try to predict which individual position is going to outperform another individual position. Just kind of own one of everything. I'm glad that different indexes have different rules. And when I say the word index, I want you to just think about it like a list. So when you say the s&P 500 index, that's the Standard Poor's list of 500 stocks, or the Russell 2000, it's the Russell Investment Company's list of approximately 2,000 stocks. It's somewhat less than that, but it's just a company's list. That's all it is. And some companies have said, we've got these rules around the list that we have. We're going to keep to our rules because they've worked for us over the years. Some companies have said, yeah, I mean, rules are meant to be broken, right? Like yolo, baby. And then I'm going to change the rules of my list. And depending on what list you subscribe to, which index you have your money in will depend on whether or not you have some SpaceX in there. But you know, in the near future, which is going to have some additional pricing stuff coming up, the whole thing with IPOs is there's a lot of capital that is tied up in random places. And some, and some of it is very predictable in what's going to happen in the short run. So in SpaceX, you know, for example, excluding the supply and demand, you know, for example, that there's going to be some indexes that are going to have to buy it. So there's going to be some pricing pressure on, or increases basically on the fact that there's going to be this known amount of shares that have to be purchased, which is going to drive the price up. There's the lockup period. If you're an insider at SpaceX, you. You got it on your balance sheet. This is my favorite thing to talk about with Elon Musk. They're like, he's a trillionaire. You know, it's like, well, he doesn't have a trillion dollars in his checking account. He has a. His net worth is right. Probably has very little liquidity relative to that number. But he can't sell a stock and nor can a lot of people. Fidelity, if you participated in the ipo, like, if you got shares, Fidelity sent you a letter and said, if you sell this within X number of days, we're going to Blacklist you from IPOs for the rest of your life. So there's this artificial floor set up with this predictable Stuff that's going on as it relates to like this index is going to have to buy 1% of the of, you know, and so you can map that out and say, well, there's all this buying pressure tells me that stock is going to go up. Which by the way, if you're one of those investors, you're going, this is a great thing. But I think in six months from now, I think you start evening out that sort of artificial buying and selling and you get back to, you know, real, I don't say valuations because it's already obscene, but real metrics around what the market wants to pay for it. So if you are buying it, if you are, you know, investing in it, if you're a shareholder, I'd be paying attention to the known knowns right now and see how to optimize for that on your own personal balance sheet.

[Joe]

Let's talk about the rules generally of how this would get into your portfolio. So, and we'll go over a couple, because you mentioned that depending on what the rules are, you're going to either see it sooner or later. So the NASDAQ index ticker symbol Q. Q. Q. Changed their game. They changed their rules. They changed it for everybody. But it was around SpaceX specifically. SpaceX is going to be allowed to join within 15 trading days of the IPO. The IPO is June 12th. 15 days is not regular days. OG I understand that's trading days.

[OG]

I think so, yep.

[Joe]

This is called a quote fast entry provision under NASDAQ's updated index rules. So you may. Now, if you own the NASDAQ index, you may have this added to your index. Now, The S&P 500 did not change their rules. So if you have a ticker symbol, there's quite a few, but IVV is one, SPY is one, there's several others. But if you own the S&P 500, there has to be a public trading history. So SpaceX or any other company has to have 12 consecutive months of being public before they can get added to your index. The second is they have to be considered what they call financially viable. That means there have to be four consecutive quarters of profitability and which might

[OG]

take about seven years based on the current numbers.

[Joe]

Okay. And then at least 10% of the shares have to be available to the public. So it can't be 90%, 91% privately held and only 9% available. Those are three of the basic things. It's going to be well for S and P and, and different indexes also have different Rules. So over the next several years, assuming that SpaceX meets the criteria, it will be added. The thing to watch out for here again though, oh gee, is the hype because you won't find this shocking on Wall street, the people that are always looking out for your best interest and to make sure that you can get in on stuff. In the last three months there have been six new space themed exchange traded funds created just to help you help yourself get, get in on this great deal.

[OG]

Yeah, it's just like, you know, years ago when there was all the cannabis stocks were all the rage and that company added cannabis to their name, it was like a tool and die maker or something. It was just they changed their name from, you know, Doug's Tool and Dye Shop to Doug's Tool, Die and Cannabis Shop and the stock went up like 700% in one day because everybody was just screening for the word cannabis without having any sort of thought process on how that fits in your plan. And this I think kind of goes back to the overarching theme, I think with investing overall, which is at the end of the day it is impossible, no one can do it to predict outperformance in advance. And more specifically, even if you actually do it correctly once or twice or five times, there's no evidence to suggest that the next time you will be successful based on your previous successes. Right? So there's no evidence of the persistence of that outperformance based on your system, your skill set, your knowledge tree, your fastest computer in the history of mankind. Like none of that is correlated to performance. The thing that we can say that is, is time that you spend invested. And so if you strip away all of the decision making, that doesn't matter which is SpaceX good, is it bad, is it going to be profitable? Not profitable, is it going to be my index? Is it not going to be my index? And just say the only thing I can control as an investor is putting money into investments. That's the singular focus that you should have your entire life. Like the whole thing, maybe a sliver of that is you say, do I want to add a little bit of flair to it and maybe have some small companies instead of big companies or some international companies instead of US based ones, totally fine. But the minute you start going down the rabbit hole of trying to decipher things that you can't control the output of or outcome of, you're spinning your wheels. And then God forbid you're actually right once or twice and you will mistake your luck for some sort of Magic crystal ball of success that is not there. The best thing that can happen is for you to be wrong. I hope there's people that invest money in SpaceX at 225 a share and it goes down to 150. Just go, good, we learned our lesson. Just do it. Like 100 bucks or 100 shares. You don't need to cripple yourself financially. But you know, sometimes you got to touch the hot stove to remember that the friggin stove is hot. Last Thanksgiving, for some stupid reason, I thought it'd be a great idea to preheat a pan in the oven. I don't even know what the hell I was doing. And I put it on the stove, put the pumpkin pies on the pan because I was like, I didn't want the pies to slosh over into the oven, you know, so you put them on the pan and I touched the frigging pan that had just been in the oven at 400 some odd degrees. You know what? Oh, I don't do that anymore. It took, you know, I did it when I was like 4. I did it when I was 48. Like there's a get. Like I had a little brain lapse. I forgot that, that hot. Guess what I'm hyper vigilant on right now. Anything that's by the stove, like, whoa, hold on. Oh, better get a hot pad. You never know, you know. Just didn't burn myself. I just learned a lesson, you know, so maybe we'll just learn a lesson.

[Joe]

Well, and I think on that point, I love this idea that losing on might be the best, might be the best thing. It's funny.

[Sponsor Voice]

Hot take.

[Joe]

Oh, gee. Listen, I know as much about investing as the next guy and I practice the fundamentals. But I've said before, I have a small portfolio where I mess around with individual stocks. I bought into the cannabis hype. I bought one of the top cannabis companies that just a couple years ago I had to write off out of my portfolio because they went bankrupt. Because this company, it was, it was great until it wasn't. Until all of a sudden the balloon popped and it was, it was gone. And because I don't follow it on a daily basis, there's two things going on. Number one, I don't follow it on a daily basis. Number two is your brain, because you own this thing, is looking for the turnaround story. Well, wait a minute. They're one of the biggest players in cannabis. Nothing bad's gonna happen to one of the biggest players. Oh, wait a minute. They've got this thing they're doing right, They've got this thing. And because you know, you read all the literature and everybody's going, oh, but wait, they're coming out with the next innovation where it's going to be in more healthcare stuff. So this is going to blow up. It's going to blow. Well, it blew up, meaning it blew right out of my port, blew out of my portfolio. So a company can do great things for humanity. The number of clients I had that when I was an adviser that would tell me, but Joe, they got a new drug coming. But Joe, they got the next thing, they got the whatever. They can do great stuff for humanity. But if they're not a well run profitable company where there's money going back to the investors, nobody's going to invest in that company. There's a clear distinction between the drug and the profit. Those are two different things. When you could line up both of those. And again, you got to be incredibly lucky to call that from the outside. Unless you want it to be your full time career and still talking to the people about stock market maestros. Go watch our video called the Investing Playbook. People talk about the. The maestros are wrong 55 of the time. The best of the best are wrong 55 of the time. What chance did you have?

[OG]

I was thinking about this the other day when we were talking with somebody else about IPOs and oh, this company's going to be around forever. I remember Jeff Bezos did a bit, I don't know, maybe inside the last five years where he was like, I fully expect Amazon to cease being a company by 2040. It will have run its course and someone will come out with the next thing that's better than us. Could you imagine that right now? Could you imagine life without Amazon? What would we do? I was ordering something for our anniversary last week. Well, I went into the store to buy it and they were like, yeah, we don't have it. I thought this was really wild because this is the store that sells it. But okay, cool. They're like, you can order it and we can get it shipped here. And I'm like, well, if I'm going to order it, man, I'm going to ship to my house. I'm not driving all the way back here to get it. That's dumb. Well, we can still order it for you. I'm like, no, you don't get to get a sales commission on the thing that I want to buy from you. But I have to buy on my own and do all on my own. Like, that's not, that's not how this works. And I was telling my wife this about how I didn't have a present for our anniversary, but it's a good story. She was like, yeah, you prom sure. You ordered it a week ago. I'm sure you thought about this a long time. Probably. You didn't probably order it last night on your phone the night before.

[Anna]

But.

[OG]

But she's like, in today's day and age, with Amazon and doordash, you're just like, appalled by the thing. You're like, what do you mean? I gotta wait.

[Joe]

Wait what?

[OG]

You know, and so you think about that. You go, well, Amazon will be here forever, right? I don't know.

[Joe]

Somebody's gonna figure out how to do it.

[OG]

Somebody will figure something out and something else will be impactful. So that's not to say SpaceX isn't gonna be around for the next 50 years and do great things. And like you said, maybe they'll be the biggest company in the world and be wildly successful and make tons of money for other investors. I hope they do. And if they do, then I'm going to profit from it by owning a sliver of it in my ETF account, just like I will profit from American Express making money on my credit card swipes and Costco from my giant Ribeye purchases. And, you know, I'm happy to buy starlink, you know, and support it in that way, but I'm not going to go out of my way to try to find the stock.

[Joe]

And, you know, I think that's a great place to end it. Twenty years ago, people worried about the fact that they miss Google. People worried about the fact that they missed.

[OG]

I'm still worried about missing Google. Honestly, I'm like, dang, maybe I should get into Google. I think this thing's going places on

[Joe]

today, they're worried about the missing SpaceX. But the real lesson, I think stackers, isn't whether SpaceX wins or not. It's really focusing on the controllables. And the controllable is looking at your end goal. And how do you reliably reach that goal? And guess what? The good news is if you, you have index funds, you own Google. And if SpaceX continues to win, then you'll own SpaceX. It's all going to end up on your team and you don't have to overthink it. All right, great discussion. Thank you so much, gentlemen. At this point in the show, we pivot over to Doug, who has. Apparently we have one of our favorite stars having a birthday Joe?

[Doug]

We sure do. Hey there, Stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and today is Meryl Streep's birthday day. The actor turns. Well, we never talk about Meryl's age around here because she's a big fan of the show. And gentlemen, don't discuss such things. Joe's mom is celebrating by creating her own new small budget film, the Devil Wears Cole's cash. You got to see the outfit she's found on sale. For my part, apparently you can mix stripes and polka dots. It's unbelievable. Meryl is famous for many icons, iconic roles, all of which have led to a career where she's been nominated for an Oscar a whopping 21 times. Despite that, how many times has she won? I'll give you three guesses. And I'll be back right after I go see if we can do a sequel called the Devil wears Tractor supply. That look should impress all the Texarkana singles.

[Joe]

As you know, I love living in Texarkana, but you know what I really don't like a lot is the heat. Except when it comes to how I get dressed. I want pieces that feel lighter, more breathable. Things that are easy but still put together. And that's why I keep coming back to Quint's. They focus on high quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Think breathable linen, soft, organic cotton, well made basics, but without the luxury markup. It's that rare balance where everything feels elevated but still effortless. Quince European linen pants and shirts. The perfect warm weather upgrade to add to your rotation. Starting at just $34. Their teaser, soft and easy to wear. And their lightweight cotton sweaters are perfect for cooler summer nights when we head north. Everything in quints is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories. Cut out the middleman. So you're paying for quality, not brand markup. Quince goes way beyond clothing. Custom upholstered sofas, ceramic cookware, premium bedding. It's kind of brand you end up recommending to everyone for everything. You've heard me talk about quints so much. Somebody on Spotify even said, all I want to hear is you talk more about your pants, Joe. About how much you like your quince pants. On my recent trip to New York City, just so I don't talk about the pants. You know what? It's the cashmere sweater that I absolutely loved and got to support that thing not only to a Yankee game, but also a nice dinner. Out with our friend Crystal Hammond and the whole Salsa High clan. Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.comsb for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U I-n c e.comsb and you'll get free shipping and 365 day returns.

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[Shannon Maldonado]

law My name is Shannon Maldonado. I'm the founder of Yaoi, a gift shop from the lens of artists and handmade objects. I chose Shopify because when I was testing other platforms, it was definitely one of the most user friendly. It was important to me to think about where we would be in the future. All of the tools for reading your sales, like planning inventory, they're just right there on your dashboard. For anyone starting a small business, the biggest thing I can tell you is it doesn't have to be perfect. Shopify can help you build upon it. Start your free trial on shopify.com.

[Doug]

Hey there Stackers. I'm resident Merrill street fan and guy who Joe's mom made stayed watched Mamma Mia so many times. I'm thinking about starting an ABBA cover band. Joe's mom's neighbor Doug we're celebrating the queen of actresses in the basement today. Meryl Streep. Streep, who Joe's mom calls her sister by another mother. Just go with it. This all ends with her making chocolate cake. If we do well, she has been nominated for Academy awards a whopping 21 times, but how many has she actually if you said that she won once for Sophie's Choice, again for Kramer versus Kramer, and a third time for the Iron lady, you'd be correct. That's 18 trips to the ballroom and not being the belle of the ball for Meryl, sources estimate that her net worth is north of $150 million. So look, she's gonna be just fine. And now it's time for the segment designed to help you also be just fine. With money. Here comes OG and Anna. Hey, look, I've also not. Not won an Oscar 18 times. It's not that big a deal, Ma.

[OG]

All right, Anna, what are we on week seven? Is this week seven already seven?

[Anna]

We're almost done.

[OG]

The penultimate episode is $5 word. So we're going to talk about college funding today. And before we get into it, we're going to point out a few things in the guidebook that maybe we got wrong and maybe made it a little more complicated than it needs to be, but we'll circle back to that. So talking about college, college funding, super fun. College is cheap, right?

[Anna]

Yeah. I mean, you probably don't need to worry about it right now. Just, like, figure it out when you get there. It's going to be okay.

[OG]

That's what we do.

[Anna]

And it will probably be free by the time you send your kids.

[OG]

So, I mean, that's a real thing. Obviously. You know, you say that a little tongue in cheek because, you know, we don't know what the future is going to hold. But this is why it's this little bit of a gamble with college funding. Right? Because if you believe that, if you say, hey, look, I think the future of education is changing. It's AI, you know, all this other sort of stuff that we're reading about, therefore, I don't need to have this capital set aside. And you're right. Well, sweet. You win. If you're wrong, you're out a whole bunch of money or your kids get some loans or you have loans right at the time where you're trying to have this, like, peak earnings. So probably a good idea to at least think through the risk factors of that and do what a lot of people are doing. We'll talk about this at the end, too. Do what a lot of people are doing and maybe kind of have a contingency plan on both sides of the equation.

[Anna]

I don't think you're going to be penalized if we get to a place where college ends up being free. And there's even ways where parents are protected now if they save and then their kids get scholarships or things like that. And so we're going to all be in this together at that point. And there's going to be ways that we can get money out of these accounts and not be penalized. So there's no bad part of saving now and planning for it to actually cost something. Yeah.

[OG]

All right, so let's work through this. So we're on our guidebook. If you don't have the guidebook stackingbenjamins.com basicsguide and you'll get both of them season one and season two actually. And we're at the end of season two already but you'll get both of them. You can go back and read through it. Let's talk about the college gap calculators. The step one here. What are we trying to work through and ascertain when we get through this?

[Anna]

The first part of this is like the scariest part of it. It's looking at the number that it's going to cost you for all four years in the future value.

[OG]

Just a profoundly earth shattering number.

[Anna]

It is so scary. But it's okay. We're going to hold your hand. What you want to start with line one, you're going to see estimated total for four year college. So like go on your, you know, if you're looking at like an in state school or maybe where you went to school or, or your partner went to school, whatever it is, look at that number on their website and just use that in today's dollars.

[OG]

Total cost of admission. That's going to be published somewhere on the financial aid section or something. It's a pretty healthy number and pretty all inclusive. It'll include things like your estimated travel costs and food and that sort of thing.

[Anna]

Yeah. So take that number, add a 5% inflation to that number. So instead of using like regular inflation numbers, we're going to use 5% to figure out what that future value is.

[OG]

So really simple how to do that. If you've got a scientific calculator, that's a little carrot symbol. So it's just 1.05-carat symbol raised to exponential if you're remembering algebra to the number of years until you need the college. So if you have a 10 year time period or if you have a newborn, you have an 18 year time period. Just going to use 1.05 raised to the 18th power. That gives you a number and then you multiply that times the total cost for four years and that gives you your inflation adjusted estimated number. You should be sitting down when you do this.

[Anna]

Yeah, sit down, have a glass of water.

[OG]

I was going to say wine. But whatever you want, whatever you're into,

[Anna]

make sure somebody's close by to make sure that you're okay. Then. Yeah, years until enrollment. So you're going to fill that out. Current 529 balance. This could also be any, you know, whatever college savings method you're using, you can substitute that in. So if it's 529. Great. Put that there. If it's a savings account, a brokerage account, whatever, use that. So then we're going to take that number of what you currently have, and we're going to do that same calculation that OG Just took you through, but we're actually going to calculate it based off of the projected returns that your current value is going to get by the time your kid is enrolling in their freshman year of college. So basically, we're trying to figure out what the gap is here. If your current 529 value is zero, then that number is going to be zero. If it's 10,000, you just complete that calculation to figure out what that number is going to be.

[OG]

Yeah. What's it going to grow to over, you know, if you don't make any other contributions? So you're going to end up with some calculation here that says, I think college is going to cost 200,000 in the future. I presently have X dollars that I think will be worth, you know, 50,000. I got to come up with 150K. And that becomes kind of the baseline for this gap that we're trying to solve for. And, you know, all decisions are rooted in facts, so we're just going to. It is what it is, right.

[Sponsor Voice]

We'll.

[OG]

We'll solve how to get to it in just a second, but we got to establish where we're going to be. So the second thing that you want to do is have a real conversation, I think, with decision makers, whether, you know, it's your kids, you know, if they're close enough to have some of these discussions, which, you know, if they're old enough to maybe making decisions like this, you're probably in trouble from a savings standpoint a little bit. But your spouse or your parents or like, who's. Who's in this with you from a funding standpoint. And then what's your belief system around this? Do you think, hey, I should be providing all of my kids college because that's what was provided for me, or I should be paying none of it. None of it was provided for me. Uncle Sam took care of my college. You know, I served in the military, and that's how I got, you know, there's. There's no right or wrong answer here, but I think having a clear understanding of what your goals are and then, you know, letting your kids know what's happening gives them something to shoot for, too, from an academic standpoint, Scholarships and that sort of deal. So step two, then is like, literally just figuring out, here's how much I want to cover. I want to cover 100% of it. I want to cover three years of it. I want to cover half of it. I'm going to cover two years of community college and then two years of university. What's your vibe? As the cool kids say. Right.

[Anna]

What's your vibe? Yep.

[OG]

And kind of settle on that. So then we want to get to where we're at and what do we got to do to close this gap? And I think this is the part where we left it a little unclear in the workbook. And then there's a line item in here that's not accurate as of 2026. But how are we going to work through? So if we have this need that we figured out in step one, how are we going to work through and figure out what do we got to do every single month to fund this?

[Anna]

Yeah. So there is a way you can do it on your calculator, which is very complicated and you need a specific calculator to actually do it.

[OG]

Just a future value, present value calculation.

[Anna]

Yes. Or we could go onto the Many plethora of 529 college savings calculators that are online. So basically, Fidelity is a great one. I think Schwab has one. Just take those decisions that you've made. What are you saving for? You're going to enter that information in, and it's going to help you break down what you then need to save on a monthly basis to get there. And the good thing with that is that you can really adjust. Like, you find out that your monthly savings is $1,000 a month, and you guys don't have $1,000 a month. Okay, let's go back to the decision making step of here. And are we going to adjust from there?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Anna]

The other aspect of that decision making is the thought of cash flowing a little bit while they're in school, too. Like, that's another option. If you're paying for private school right now, we're gonna have a little bit of money free up when they go to college, and maybe that's just gonna be shuffled over to your college tuition at that point. So that's something to consider once you get that monthly number. If it's also a little scary, doesn't fit into the budget right now. Go back to the decision making part of this workbook and adjust from there.

[OG]

Yeah. We're trying to establish a time when life isn't stressful. You can sit down and just kind of think through these big decisions that you have to make. Because Ultimately, you're going to make it at some point in time. You know, when your kid gets done with high school and gets accepted to college and the tuition bill comes, it's time to make a decision, right? And so hopefully you've thought through this. You know, when they're 8, or when they're 10, or when they're 12, or when they're a newborn and recognize, I think also this isn't set in stone just because you decided when there were four that, hey, you know what? I don't feel like funding any of their college. Nothing was paid for by me. And now they're 10 and you're going, hey, life's a different spot. Maybe I got promotion, I got some extra money. Maybe I should. The rising cost of this is pretty obscene. Maybe I want to contribute some of it. That's okay, too. All right, one thing that we have on here that I want to talk about just for a quick second. 529s are technically gifts. You can gift up to the gifting amount per year. We have in the book that it's 18. We know that in 2026 it's $19,000 a year. But 529s are unique in the sense that you can do five years of that upfront. So if you are in a position, you did have a big bonus, your stock options get, you're a SpaceX person and you just have a bajillion dollars now and you're going to fund everybody's college. You can do 19,000 times five per kid, per person in the family. So if you're married, each person can do $19,000 times five times the number of kids. So you can see you could really fund all of this all at one time if you had the liquidity, which is quite a bit. And then the other thing that I want to talk about real briefly before we get to the glide path stuff, Anna, that you can walk us through is fafsa. FAFSA is a five letter word that everyone hates. A lot of people that are listening, they're saying, look, I'm not going to get any need based aid. I don't need to do this. You still need to do it because it counts for it opens up loan opportunities, it opens up scholarship opportunities. They're going to need it anyway for school. Just get it done. Get it done as soon as you can so that you're eligible and your kids are eligible for all the stuff that you need to do. You do that based on two years ago money, by the way. So I get it. You're going, hey, I make a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. I'm not going to get any need based aid. I know you're not, but you still have to do it just to open up that opportunity. All right, as we wrap up, I want to talk about this glide path. What, what are we talking about with a 529 Runway glide path.

[Anna]

Again, this is for any sort of college savings account that you have designated for your kid if there's investments involved. So if you're already sitting in cash, that's fine. But as your kid gets closer to needing this money, we want to start setting it aside. So let's say, say that we are fully on track to fund college. By the time that they are a freshman in college, we want to start moving 25% over every year of high school. So freshman year of high school, we're going to be moving 25% to fixed income or cash. Once they get to sophomore year, another 25%. So 50% should then be sitting into fixed income or cash. Same thing with junior and senior year. So by the time they're a senior, the whole account is sitting in a very conservative portfolio and it's ready to be utilized once they get into school. We just don't want to get too close to college and start like risking market timing or anything like that. Just get it into a conservative portfolio. I know there's a lot of kind of like target date funds, but for college savings they call them like, is it a glide path fund or something like that?

[OG]

Age based.

[Anna]

Yeah, yeah, age based fund. And they might do this automatically for you, but I would just go in every year and just double check that they are aligned with that philosophy.

[OG]

Yeah, the problem with the age based ones is I think they start it personally, I think they start it too early. I think they start that glide slope when the kids are like 10 and not 14. And look, there's a risk on both sides of this. The risk on one side is, hey, we go through a bull market and I could have had twice the money if I'd have just let it sit there. But this is a known outcome and a known time frame. We know that you're going to need X dollars in four years from now. If this was your retirement, we'd say, hey, you need to have, you're going to retire in four years, you need to have four year money from now. We talked about that in season one. You know, you need to have some foundation money so that you can pay for your bills and this is a bill that you know is coming. So you're taking a little risk off the table, you're taking a little return potential off the table. But the exchange for that is certainty. And I like the idea of just your freshman year high school is your freshman year of college money. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. You just follow it all the way up. Lastly, real quick, there is a new thing with the tax law that came out about two years ago that if you do have extra 529 money, there is an opportunity to put that in a Roth for your kids. But you got to follow a bunch of rules. The biggest one is money has to be there for 15 years. So if you've got a kid and you're thinking about doing 529 contributions, it would be a great idea to put money in a 529 as soon as you can. Even if it's just 100 bucks just to start the 15 year clock. 15 years is the cutoff for the ability to use this for the future retirement. Needs lots of strings to pull to unravel this to make it go right. But I don't know. Have you ever seen anybody do extra 529to Roth? I haven't yet.

[Anna]

Not yet.

[OG]

It's on paper. It sounds really great.

[Anna]

But yeah, I think people will plan for their kids college and then this comes in. If they end up going to a different college or they go to shorter college, something like that, that's where this can come in. Just as a just in case situation.

[OG]

Yeah. Gives you an opportunity to use it in the future. Okay, next week coming, we're gonna wrap all season two up and maybe reflect a little bit back on season one as well. In the meantime, if you haven't got the guidebooks, sackingbenjamins.com BasicsGuide is a great place to get all of them. You can follow us on YouTube and if you haven't done the scorecard yet, I've had a bunch of people do that. Hundreds of people. Which is really cool to kind of assess where you are with all of these things. Stackingventions.com Scorecard and you can see where you stand. We're out of here. I guess we'll flip it back to you. Or maybe Doug. I don't know who's talking next. Maybe Doug. I'll say Doug. Doug, take it from here.

[Anna]

Bye.

[Joe]

And there you have it. College planning in the books. Nice job, Ochi.

[OG]

Nice job, Anna.

[Joe]

That's true. We should. Nice job, Anna. Let's wander out on the back porch. I've got a couple things here, Doug, before I turn it over and see what else is happening. But number one is he mentioned it earlier. I was going to bring it up now, but Happy anniversary to the Bannermans. To OG and Mrs. OG. I. I have no idea. I've. I've known Mrs. OG for a long time. I have no idea, Doug, how she stuck with him for that long. Just the guy worried about her prefrontal

[Doug]

cortex because her decision making is suspect.

[Joe]

She is a brilliant woman.

[Doug]

I don't know how she's that smart, but just has no decision making ability to stick with Josh.

[Joe]

Yes. Congratulations, my friend.

[OG]

Okay, thanks for that, Doug. And also thanks to you, Joe.

[Joe]

With friends like you. Right?

[Doug]

Did I go too far with that one? Maybe.

[Joe]

Second, we also have a good friend of ours from Detroit, a stacker who I know became financially independent last week. Finished her last day on the job. She may have been financially independent for a while, but you know how brave it is. Oh, gee. To take that step out the door. So congratulations to stacker Melissa, friend of ours. Back when I was in Detroit, we'd hang out with Melissa and her husband Mike and lots of other of the Detroit stackers. So miss our Detroit community there. But congratulations to Melissa on financial independence. Great work.

[Doug]

Good job, Melissa. You know, if she's like most people who see that retirement horizon, your last day on the job was about two months before you actually checked out. I think there's some coasting involved there.

[Joe]

There might be a little phone in it. In. Is that what you're saying?

[Doug]

Senioritis? Yep.

[Joe]

That could happen to a lot of people. Melissa, we would never ever accuse you of that. Of course.

[Doug]

Here's what else I need to talk to you about is this new kid on the block that is going to be taking up real estate in the basement. I'm not. Like we didn't talk about this at the meeting. I didn't know that somebody else was coming in and using up some of the snacks in the break room.

[Joe]

Can we.

[OG]

You guys get snacks?

[Doug]

What can I do to get rid of. I'm not comfortable.

[Joe]

Number one is I don't know about getting snacks either, Og because I think Doug has them gone by the time we show up for work. Number one. So the fact that mom lays out snacks new to you and I. But second, yeah, I should have brought that up at the team meeting earlier. That scout was coming on board. So who is scouting? Well, every month for our guides and we have three guides so far, the plan is to have five. We're busy working on guide number four right now. But our three guides are your workplace benefits, guide to your taxes, both tax prep and tax planning, and guide to college planning, which we just heard from OG and Anna on. And we collaborated on that guide with Robert Farrington and the big team over at the college Investor, who just focus on college all the time. So three great guides. The cool thing is we update them every month. You pay for it one time. We update them every month. Well, the issue still with the guide is, you know, these guides are comprehensive. They're pretty big. And while we have this fantastic checklist at the front that people go through, and you just take the checklist and immediately you find out your strengths and weaknesses. Do this, do this, do this. It takes five minutes, and you solved the majority of whatever your issues are in that particular area, and you're. You're good to go. And then you dive in more into the topics as they become applicable over the years, and we just keep it updated for you every month. So we've done that over the months. But still, a lot of the time, you don't know where to look to have a question answered. You're digging through the guide, and we heard you loud and clear. So Scout knows the guides up and down, and her job is, you ask her a question about anything. Tax planning, what's a Roth ira? How much money can I put in it? Can I write off my car? What do I do if my kid's in middle school and I'm planning for college? What's the first things I should think about? Everything that's in the guide is stuff that Scout knows. And what's frustrating is we found a lot of people asking AI these very questions. And the issue is, as OG you and Doug and I have talked about before, is that AI will so often give you the wrong answer, mostly because of the fact that it's crawling the entire Internet space for the answer. Well, all Scout knows is our guide. If it's in the guide, Scout knows where it's at. Scout knows the answer. Scout gives you the answer and tells you if you want to dig in more, here's exactly where in the guide to look. So you can not only get your question answered right away, but also you can dive in more to that very area. Just know exactly where to go. If it's not in the guide, she will let you know. What's cool is if it should be in the guide, because we update them every month. It now goes on the list. And guess what? You're going to See next month. Oh, that question that I really wanted answered that for some reason we missed. We haven't found one yet, but for some reason we missed it. It goes on that monthly update, and we also know which areas to even, you know, dive in. We're getting ready to put videos in the guides, more flowcharts in the guides. So as we do those, we'll see what questions people ask.

[Bill Simmons]

Scout.

[Joe]

So glad she's here.

[Doug]

I found out the hard way that she's only focused on info in the guides because I tried to ask her a number of times for the best scotch to pair with Montreal steak seasoning, and she just kept telling me to go pound sand, and I didn't. Yeah, scotch worthless.

[Joe]

The fact that she gave you the eye roll was the part that got me. That was good. So if you have the guides, go, go ask her a bunch of questions. Really test her out and see what she does. That'll help us help you even more. If you don't have the guides and you want to check out the guides, how you get those, it's just stacking Benjamins.com guides and huge upgrade we've been working on for a long time. And I want to thank two people in particular. My daughter Autumn started this journey. She works with AI and works in compute, what's called computational linguistics. So she began this process for us, which was really cool. And then Doc G's son, Cameron Grummett, brought it home. Doug, you've spent some time with Cameron. Just a smart, smart young man. Very, very smart young man.

[Doug]

Smart kid. Great kid.

[Joe]

Just like Doc G. The acorn didn't fall far from the tree there. All right. Speaking of acorns, on Wednesday, our good friend Dana Ansbach joins us to talk about living off your acorns.

[Doug]

Did you work this whole thing just for that segue?

[Joe]

I did not. It was funny because I. Because I. Acorn. I thought, oh, my God, Dana's gonna be on.

[Doug]

How did you pull that off?

[Joe]

I don't know. Her whole new thing is living off your acorns. It's what she calls it. Yeah. Who knew? Anyway, that's it for today. Big thanks for hanging out. If you know somebody who is all wrapped up in FOMO around the SpaceX IPO, please send this to them. And if you know somebody that just doesn't really know how IPOs work, SpaceX is a great story about how, you know, an IPO kind of takes over the news in personal finance for a couple weeks. So please send it to those people as well, all right. Right now we're going to send it to Doug, because, Doug, you've got the three things we should learn on today's show.

[Doug]

So what should we have learned today? First, take some Advice from the SpaceX IPO. Big event in history. Absolutely. Something you need to invest in. You probably will. In your interest, index funds. No need to call your shot. Second, take some advice from Anna and OG planning for college. Take it one step at a time. And if you can, start early. If not, start right now, because it'll be here before you know it. But the big lesson. Want to know how to get Joe's mom to cook for you because she is such a huge Meryl Streep fan? Just reminder that Streep played Julia Child in Julia and Julia and she'll start cooking in 3, 2, 1. Yep, there we go. This show is the property of SP Podcast, LLC, Copyright 2026, and is created by Josal Sehai. 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. And oh, yeah, 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. Sa.

[Joe]

Have you ever thought about, like, comparing years? I didn't think about this until I saw the video that I'm going to play. One year versus another. Like, what the best year was. Can you think of, Doug? Like, what a great year was.

[Doug]

Yeah, what criteria?

[Joe]

Yeah, what was a great year for either pop culture, maybe the best in pop culture, or a great year just in your life. Like, I think, like, 1993 was for me for a bunch of reasons. Newly married, found out then later in the year that Cheryl was pregnant. And just a great freaking year. 93 and 94 were two fantastic years.

[Doug]

Yeah, I think I have different criteria because we probably will. Naturally, most people will think of those kinds of years. Great momentous occasions in their relationships or things like that. But you can also go with what year did I have my favorite piece of pizza? Or great music and concerts that I went to? So, like, what are we talking about here? Because I've got different answers for all of those things.

[Joe]

Yeah, no, it. It definitely could be. Now I'm trying to think of years that I went to a bunch of concerts, but that would be almost around the same period, maybe slightly before. Oh, gee, did you get a banner year, like a best year?

[OG]

I love the now.

[Joe]

Yeah, I do, though. I always think about this year is going to be the best year, like every year, don't you? Maybe that's the life of an optimist

[OG]

like OG Wildly optimistic. Everything in the future is going to be amazing.

[Doug]

Everybody calls OG an optimist. It just oozes from him all the time.

[Joe]

So Bill Simmons, the sports commentator, has a hot take on what year he thinks was the best year of all. I'd say maybe in the last hundred years of pop culture.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought 1984 was the greatest year ever for people like us, like with the sports, the pop culture. So you had Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters. You had Purple Rain and the Terminator. So you had Arnold's Entrance. You had Sixteen Candles and Karate Kid. Laying the template for the eighties teen movies. You had the peaks of Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Prince and Huey Lewis. And you also had, in February, Billie Jean at Motown 25. Probably the single greatest television moment of my lifetime. Hulk Hogan wins WWE title. Jordan joins the NBA and Marilynie joins the NHL. We had the first Bird Magic, NBA Finals. We have McEnroe, Gretzky, Bird and Montana in their absolute primes. We have the peak of Biggie's basketball. We have a Thursday NBC with Cosby Show, Cheers and Family Ties. We have the starter by Emmy vice. We have Letterman breaking through first slam dunk contest. Madonna's arrival. Flutie wins the Heisman. Tom Hanks makes the lead. Howard stern in the 84 Olympics with no Russians. I could keep going, and there's like 40 other things I could put in there, but it just felt like. I can't explain it, but everything felt really authentic back then. Like Ghostbusters is a summer movie that it just came out. It wasn't like summer movie season has begun. With Ghostbusters, things just kind of happened. And it was cool to be there for that.

[Joe]

All that in one year. One year.

[Doug]

You know, it's funny, I wouldn't have picked 84 if you had narrowed the question down to me earlier, Joe. And said what? It was the greatest pop culture year. I might. I was leaning towards 86 before hearing this video. I would have. I would have gone on 86, but that what he just listed off was a lot of pretty amazing stuff. So that he makes a pretty good, pretty compelling case.

[Joe]

I hear some of those years in the early 90s with, you know, the height of Nirvana and you know, the Seattle music scene that you might be able to go into. I didn't, I. I'm trying to think back what was really exciting in sports back then and who was coming out maybe early Derek Jeter.

[Doug]

Musically, I think that was not as broad. That scene coming out of the North Pacific Northwest, I don't think was as

[Joe]

broadly Springsteen, Prince, Huey Lewis and Michael Jackson.

[Doug]

Michael Jackson, Madonna. I mean, didn't even list Madonna. Yeah.

[Joe]

But a Cosby show, obviously Cosby didn't. That, that didn't age well. But for the rest of the people that made that show just what a.

[Doug]

It was still a huge night of television. Like from, from probably that time, early 80s through early 90s, there was a Thursday night sitcom lineup that made it

[Joe]

all the way through the 90s because that rolled into Seinfeld and Friends.

[Doug]

Right. You wouldn't like if somebody said, let's go to the bar. You'd be like, no, this is a night I get to sit home for for free and get free good entertainment all night long.

[Joe]

A bunch of my friends were in fraternities and the fraternities would have sororities over specifically for Thursday night viewing of the TV scene. Crazy, crazy times.

[Doug]

NBC and chill.

[Joe]

That's what they said.

[Anna]

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