01.20.26 Ask An Advisor With Wes Moss

The Clark Howard Podcast

Clark Howard

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.6 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2026

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Large Cap vs. Small Cap: Which Is Best? & Why Your Returns Don’t Match the Headlines With the median S&P 500 company now valued at $35 billion and "Mega Caps" like Microsoft reaching the $3+ trillion mark, the scale of the market has reached levels that are difficult to even conceptualize. While large caps have dominated the last three years with returns, Wes highlights why investors shouldn't ignore small and mid-cap categories. With small caps currently catching up in 2026 and offering more attractive valuations, diversifying beyond the top 10 stocks in the S&P 500 is more critical than ever. Also, have you ever wondered why individual investors consistently underperform the broader market. While the S&P 500 has averaged a 13% return over the last decade, the average balanced investor has seen closer to 8%. Wes discusses the framework needed to stop chasing headlines and start building long-term wealth. Plus, Christa shares your #AskWes questions and Wes gives his take. All this and more on the January 20, 2026, Ask an Advisor episode of the Clark Howard podcast.. Submit your questions at clark.com/ask. We hope you enjoy our weekly Ask An Advisor episodes. Let us know what you think in the comments! Learn more about Wes: BOOKS BY WES MOSS Wes Moss, CFP® Wes Moss - Clark.com Learn more about your ad choices: megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:26.4	Visit Slack.com forward slash meet Slackbot to learn more.
0:30.3	Something unexpected has arrived in Happy Meal. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hello Kitty and
0:35.7	friends are teaming up for the Ultimate Collab.
0:38.4	Joining your little ones on a fun-fueled adventure.
0:41.2	Some fun, some food, it's all inside this happy meal.
0:46.4	Until the 2nd of February from 11am includes one pre-selected book or toy whilst it's last.
0:56.9	Welcome to Ask an Advisor, We're here at Team Clark, go deeper on all things investing and retirement.
1:01.9	Krista.
1:02.7	Hello.
1:03.3	Here with Mr. West Moss.
1:05.2	And today, speaking of investing, you're going to talk about a couple of really interesting
1:09.5	topics.
1:10.2	Well, to me,
1:16.7	what is a small cap and what's a large cap these days? That sounds like rudimentary, small cap, large cap. The size of companies has changed so dramatically over the last decade
1:21.7	that if you asked 10 people on the street, what's the size of a large cap?
1:30.1	I don't know if people would know it because it's changed a lot. And it's a huge part of what we are forced to choose from in our 401K.
1:35.5	So we have to understand this.
1:37.7	What's small?
	...

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