Building Wealth When Markets Get Messy w/ Ben Carlson #1136
How to Money
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2026
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Shark attacks, plane crashes, and lightning strikes… these are the dramatic and headline-grabbing events that are terrifying but incredibly rare. The odds you’ll ever experience those unfortunate events are tiny, so is it technically risky? Meanwhile, something as ordinary as driving to work should be considered more often since in the US, there are 6 million car accidents a year! When you start looking closely, risk and reward show up everywhere in our lives. And for investors especially, understanding the REAL risks we face, not the ones that dominate headlines, is essential to building a strategy that truly works. Our guest today has made it his mission to bring common sense back to finance. Ben Carlson is the Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management, where he focuses on managing portfolios for institutions and individuals. He is the creator of the widely read blog A Wealth of Common Sense and the author of several books on investing, including his new release, Risk and Reward. Today we discuss:
- Over-indexing on existential risk vs personal risk
- “When do you need your money?”
- Stress testing your investments
- International’s spot in a portfolio
- Timing the AI “bubble”
- Role of cash in investments, but also in personal finance
- Protecting your wealth from inflation
- Bonds for younger investors
- Adopting a long term investing mindset
- Treating “future you” like a bill
- And much more!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.3 | Welcome to How to Money. |
| 0:05.7 | I'm Joel. |
| 0:06.4 | And today I'm talking building wealth when markets get messy with Ben Carlson. |
| 0:10.8 | Thank you. Okay, so often when we think about risk, we picture shark attacks or plane crashes, dramatic, headline-grabbing events that feel terrifying, but are incredibly rare. |
| 0:38.9 | I have to explain that to my kids all the time. |
| 0:40.9 | We go in the ocean, shark attack, highly unlikely. |
| 0:43.8 | The odds are you're never going to experience either of those things. |
| 0:48.1 | Meanwhile, something as ordinary as driving to work is actually far riskier. |
| 0:52.8 | It's just not the way our brains think about it. |
| 0:54.5 | But in the U.S., there are actually six million car accidents a year. So when you start looking |
| 0:59.3 | closely, risk and reward, they show up everywhere in our lives. And for investors especially, |
| 1:04.4 | understanding the real risks that we face, not the ones that dominate the headlines, |
| 1:08.5 | is essential to building a strategy that truly works over the long haul. |
| 1:12.0 | My guest today, he's made his mission to bring common sense back to finance. Ben Carlson, |
| 1:16.6 | he's one of my favorite writers in the investing world. His new book, Risk and Reward is part |
| 1:20.9 | economic history, part practical playbook. And honestly, I think it's an instant classic. So, Ben, |
| 1:25.8 | I'm so thrilled to have you joining me today on the show. Thanks. Appreciate that. First question that I ask everyone is what their craft beer equivalent is. So what Ben Carlson, do you like to splurge on while you're still saving investing intelligently for your future? Okay. So I like to spend on outdoor activities with my family, especially with my kids. I tell my wife all the time, |
| 1:45.0 | my oldest daughter turns 12 in April, okay? My youngest, my twins turn 9 in May. And I tell my wife, |
| 1:52.6 | like, we're halfway down to them. They're going to be 18 and they're gone. And so we all the time, |
| 1:57.5 | we spend money, we prioritize, my wife said to this to me when they were young, we're going to prioritize traveling experiences with our kids. Right? So we cut back on other areas of our life. We're not like luxury vehicle people. We don't like going out to nice dinners, you know, there's stuff like that. But when it comes to vacations and experiences and doing stuff and being outside, especially because I live in Michigan. |
... |
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