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Your Money Guide on the Side

How I Invest My Own Money in 2025

Your Money Guide on the Side

Tyler Gardner

Business, Education, Entrepreneurship, Investing, How To

4.92.4K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Please take a moment to complete this brief survey so I can learn more about YOU and what it is YOU want from this show! I promise, it will take no longer than 97 seconds, and it will help me continue to make the show better for you.  There’s a strange YouTube genre called “What’s in My Bag?” where people pull out chapstick like it’s a state secret. This episode is basically that…except the bag is my financial life. And instead of chapstick, it’s index funds and money markets. Not sexy. Not even the flavored kind. Just the plain, unscented stick you find in your coat pocket three years later — still somehow usable. So, what’s in my financial bag? Today I’m walking you through my actual accounts: Roth IRA, taxable brokerage, SEP IRA, and yes, the glorified piggy bank that is my money market fund. I’ll explain what’s in each, why it’s there, and how I think about these buckets so you can use the same framework as a mirror for your own setup. Along the way, I’ll share how I went from aspiring Peter Lynch to preferring mental bandwidth. Why I sometimes hoard cash like a squirrel on Adderall. And why even the smug “just buy the S&P 500 and chill” crowd (myself included) still falls into the trap of trying to outsmart the market — usually by tilting toward “the next big thing” in the most boring way imaginable. Here’s what we cover: Roth IRA: My tax-free sandbox. 100% growth funds. If there’s ever a place to take swings, it’s here. Taxable brokerage: My liquid nest. Efficient, simple, with a healthy pile of cash-like funds as a psychological shock collar reminding me to actually live life. SEP IRA: My tax-bracket tamer. Boring, tax-deferred, locked away for “future Tyler.” (Poor guy.) The irony of tilts: How even with all this simplicity, I still fall into the trap of trying to beat the market with the market. The goal isn’t just to get rich. The goal is to make your portfolio so boring you forget it exists — because you’re too busy living the life it was supposed to buy you in the first place. Hope you all enjoy the show and it offers you something to think about this week!

Transcript

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0:00.0

The ultimate goal is to build a system so dull you forget it exists because you're too busy living the life the money was supposed to buy you in the first place.

0:09.9

Not just compounding dollars, but compounding mental bandwidth, knowing I don't have to chase, tweak, or outwit the market every day.

0:19.4

And that, to me, is wealth.

0:23.7

Hello, friends. This is Tyler Gardner, welcoming you to another episode of your

0:28.0

money guide on the side, where it is my job to simplify what seems complex, add nuance to what

0:33.8

seems simple, and learn from and alongside some of the brightest minds in money, finance,

0:39.4

and investing.

0:40.4

So let's get started and get you one step closer to where you need to be.

0:45.8

I don't know if you all know about this one, but there's a strange genre of YouTube video

0:51.3

called What's in My Bag, where people empty their backpacks or purses and

0:56.7

show their chapstick collection like It's a State Secret.

1:00.2

Not going to lie, I always wait to see what's in their bag.

1:04.1

This episode is kind of like that, except instead of my bag, it's all my financial accounts.

1:13.3

For some reason, no matter how theoretically sound we can be on these shows, people still tend to prefer seeing how others actually invest.

1:19.8

So what's in my financial bag? Well, to start, instead of Chapstick, its index funds and

1:25.1

money markets, which, to be fair, are about as sexy as

1:28.1

chapstick and not even the fun flavored kind.

1:30.9

We're talking the plain, unsented, stick you lose in your winter coat pocket and find three

1:35.2

years later, still somehow usable.

1:37.6

But unlike most YouTubers, I promise there's no ring light or mystery pouch unless you

1:43.4

count the mystery of why Vanguard's

1:45.0

website still looks like it was coded on Netscape. Today, I'm walking you through exactly how I

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