Hello, friends. This is Tyler Gardner, welcoming you to another episode of your money guide on the

side, where it is my job to simplify what seems complex, add nuance to what seems simple, and learn from

and alongside some of the brightest minds in money, finance, and investing. So let's get started and get you

one step closer to where you need to be.

Back in 2003, I met this guy at the London School of Economics.

If you had told either of us then that we'd still be in touch decades later,

let alone traveling the world together annually, we probably would have laughed it off.

Well, I probably would have laughed it off as I remember turning to him right before we left for the year and saying, well, we probably would have laughed it off. Well, I probably would have laughed it off

as I remember turning to him right before we left for the year and saying, well, I'll never see you guys

again because that's usually how life had worked for me. Luckily, we've stayed in touch. And here we are,

bonded by years of debates, deep dives into finance, and is unshakable, sometimes questionable,

devotion to the Mets, the Jets, and Georgetown basketball.

Mike Taormina isn't just a diehard sports fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of crypto.

He's the co-founder and CEO of Vault, a fintech company that enables lenders to extend credit-backed by digital assets.

Before that, he co-founded Common Bond, which helped

originate over $5 billion in student loan refinancing, and alluvial, the team behind the

Liquid Collective, a decentralized Ethereum staking protocol for institutions. And he's got a

credential or two to back it up. MBA from Wharton, finance background from Georgetown and

LSC. Oh, and he's a CFA charter holder. That said, his single greatest credential has nothing

to do with where he attended some classes or listened to some people talk, but rather the number

one reason why I wanted to bring Mike on the show is because of his lifelong devotion and his

ongoing patience, teaching others why

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